Fight or Flight?
by everyoneisMISunderstood
Summary: AU. Max, Zephyr, and Tiffany are in desperate need of money. Ariel, Nick, and Jeff want some excitement in their life. When the two very different groups of friends make it onto a popular reality TV show, drama is guaranteed. FAX and NIGGY
1. Entering

**(A/N) I've had this idea for over a year now, and I'm finally going to be breathing life into it. It's totally original and AU, so cut me some slack if it seems a bit farfetched, please.**

**Fang and Max ~ 16**

**Iggy and Nudge~ 15**

**Gazzy and Angel~ 14**

_TV guide LOVES:_

_Fight… or Flight!_

The girl rolled her eyes, but something about this article grabbed her attention. She picked up the magazine and read over the page.

_So what exactly is FOF? Well, it's the hottest new reality/game show on MTV. Packed with drama, this show has grabbed the attention of many people, including the famous stars we all know and love. _

_But what's it about, you might be wondering? Good question! So in a nutshell, here's the summary: Two teenage groups of friends (To be known as the Families) consisting of one sixteen year old, one fifteen year old, and one fourteen year old move into a mansion together as they try to find a way to get inside each other's heads, manipulate, and use the other people in order to win $1,000,000 to share with their Family._

_Each week, the Families compete in challenges against each other to win smaller prizes that they take home regardless of who wins._

_How do you win? Well that's easy. At random points (usually after a challenge or after the Game Planners stir up drama because things get boring) our celebrity hosts will ask the families, "Fight, or flight?"_

_The families will then discuss if they've had enough of this game, or if they have enough fight in them to compete for the money. If one family chooses flight, that Damily will take the prizes they've collected and leave while the other family gets the $1,000,000._

_Think you and your friends have what it takes to win this competition? Fill out the page and find out. The third season premieres January 2, 2010 so hurry._

"Guys!" She hollered down the hallway, barely keeping the hope out of my voice. "I have something to show you!"

She smiled as Tiffany and Zephyr's feet pounded on the battered carpeted floor. "Check it out." The blonde said, tossing the magazine in their direction. They took a few minutes to read the article before they started grinning.

"You think we can do it, Max?" Zephyr questioned, tilting his blonde head to one side.

Max paused, really considering the oppurtunity. "Yeah. Yeah, I think we can."

* * *

The family regarded the fifty-two inch plasma screen TV coolly, staring at the pretty redhead as she heaved a sigh and said, "Flight. We can't do this anymore." Instantly cameras swamped the sandy haired boy from the other side of the room as he and his friends started cheering, happy that they finally won.

"Why are we still watching this?" The boy with the dark hair asked, turning to his brother.

The strawberry blonde lifted his brows and answered, "Because Ariel wants to, and why not? The girls aren't bad looking, even you can't deny that, Nick."

"True."

Nick was about to turn the TV to something manly like football, when the curly haired girl Ariel screeched at him, "Wait! We could do that. We qualify, and more money couldn't hurt."

"Ariel, why would we enter? Our parents are already stinkin rich." The boy Jeff snorted.

Ariel rolled her eyes. "Why not do it for the game? It could be fun!"

Nick asked her in all seriousness, "Do you really want to?" She nodded vigorously and Nick flipped open his phone to call the toll-free number. "We want to enter."

**(A/N) Like it? Hate it? I need some feedback please!**


	2. Getting Chosen

**(A/N) Happy new year everybody! I'm glad people don't think I'm nuts for coming up with this :) Thank you _Daughters of Night_ for being my fabulous beta.  
**

**Max POV**

It had been about a week, and we hadn't heard back from the company that sponsors "Fight or Flight". I sighed and was about to call Nudge and Gazzy when the doorbell rang.

Groaning, I heaved myself off the couch and walked to the door. I opened it and was attacked by a black haired girl. "Come on, we don't have all day! We only have two days, the new season airs in just three weeks! We have to prepare everyone."

I blinked in confusion. What in the world was this wack-job talking about? "Where's your family? Oh, you're even prettier than you were in your picture!"

"Uh… what?" I muttered, oh so intelligently.

She glared at me. "Don't play dumb, the cameras are right there and it does take money to edit."

My jaw dropped. "Wait… you mean? We're on the show?!" I exclaimed. "Guys!" I screamed down the hall. "We're on the show!"

TK and Zephyr ran down the stained floor. "You have to get dressed," I laughed at Nudge's crazy bed head and Zephyr just wearing his pajama pants.

The girl laughed. "No you don't. When we get you to the studio we're just going to change your clothes for a fashion shoot and-"

"Fashion shoot?" Tiff bubbled. "That sounds like so much fun. I always wanted to model." She said dreamily.

I rolled my eyes. "Zephyr go put on a shirt." He nodded and dashed into his room, muttering something about how unbelievable this was.

The girl tapped her foot impatiently. "We don't have all day…" She breathed out, and it looked like she was doing some weird calming exercise that clearly didn't work.

Once Tiff and Zephyr were ready, we all piled into the huge limo waiting outside.

I eyed her suspiciously. It _was_ kind of weird that she just showed up out of nowhere. "Who are you?"

She stuck her hand out and smiled. "My name's Chrissy. I'll sort of be your attendant for the next few days."

"We have an attendant?" Tiffany-Krystal beamed. "Oh my gosh, Max, this is so cool! I always wanted an attendant. Do you think saying I have an attendant makes me sound more official or anything?"

I nodded my head absently, "Uh-huh," I told her. We were going to win a million dollars. We wouldn't have to live in that beat up old shack and we might actually be able to afford food other than cold canned ravioli.

I was aware of someone snapping their fingers in front of my face and I smacked the hand away. "What?" I asked, annoyed. I just wanted to go back to my daydream.

Sighing, Chrissy asked, "Was it really necessary to slap my hand? Really? Anyway, don't you want to know what's going to happen once we arrive at the studio?"

Zephyr burst in, "I do!"

"Never knew you loved the limelight so much!" I laughed as he stuck his tongue out at me.

Chrissy began to prattle, "Well first thing we're going to do is come up with your stage names. You know how Lissa from the previous season was the Red Haired Wonder? Well we have to think of names for you guys."

She looked off before saying, "Actually, maybe we could do that now."

I rolled my eyes. Tiffany exclaimed, "I want to be something cool! Something catchy… something like Cinnamon All-spice La Fever!"

Zephyr grinned. "I wanna be Captain Terror. Or the Sharkalator."

Chrissy stared at them before talking really slowly like she was confused, "Um… I don't really think that's going to work. Tell me a little bit about yourselves or some nicknames you used to go by."

Shaking my head, I laughed internally as Tiff started to list all the things she used to be called by her friends, "Well, I used to go by The Wonderful Crayon Box of All Things Related to Muffins." If Chrissy were a manga character, she'd have the little squiggles for eyes, she seemed so lost. "But that's a long story."

"I don't think that'll work either," I told her, trying to save Chrissy from trying to coax TK out of being something outrageous and weird. "We used to call you Nudge back at…" _The orphanage._ I finished in my head. We didn't like to talk about that. "And Zephyr, you can be Gazzy again." Gazzy nodded, but looked a bit disappointed about being turned down about the Sharkalator.

Nudge smiled tiredly, knowing what I was talking about. "Sure, that's fine! It shouldn't take you long to adjust to calling us our old names."

Secretly, I missed calling them their nicknames. They represented part of them, and calling them real names seemed almost shallow and superficial.

"Max, you need a name." I glared at Chrissy.

Hotly, I protested, "There is no way on earth you're giving me a nickname. My real name is Maximum Ride, and it's staying that way."

She pondered this. "Well, I guess that's alright. Maximum Ride is strange enough, no offense."

"None taken."

She smiled. "I think you're okay. So anyway, now that that's taken care of, once we get off the bus we're going to take you to hair and make-up."

Gazzy looked horrified. "Make-up? You're kidding right?"

I cracked up. "Yeah, Gazzy, you can just wear some red lipstick and purple eye shadow. You'll look gaw-jus." I teased him, saying the last line like those preppy people I can't stand.

Chrissy shook her head, amused at our antics. "Yes, you will be going to hair and make-up. We have to take pictures so we can start to spread the word about you guys. Then we'll work on filming you guys to incorporate you into the theme song. Finally, once that's done, you get to meet the other Family. Sound good?"

We all nodded and agreed and she said, "Great. Now you might want to get some sleep. You'll need it."

**(A/N) I know absolutely nothing about producing a TV show, but this seems pretty legit to me.**


	3. Getting Ready

**(A/N) Hey, I know its been awhile, and I hope you guys are still with me! Thank you _Daughters of Night _for, as always, being my lovely Beta. I hope you guys like this!**

**Disclaimer: I keep forgetting to do these. Oh well. I do not own Max Ride or America's Next Top Model, or anything else referenced in this story. I do own the plot, and if I see someone stealing it'll be really sad! *cough cough***

**Max POV**

I flinched away from the man as he tried to shove make-up on my eye when it wasn't even closed. "Watch it!" I snapped at him.

Gazzy was sitting in the chair whining about how it wasn't manly to wear make-up. Nudge scoffed. "Oh, please Gazzy! You're only fourteen, you don't need to worry about being manly."

Gazzy groaned, "Way to kill my joy."

Nudge huffed. "I thought it wasn't _manly_ to have joy…"

He glared at her before flipping her off. I chuckled quietly, shaking my head. I loved those kids sometimes. "Stop moving!" My make-up artist (though why they're called that I don't know) Pablo whined.

About an hour and a half later, we were finally ready. Chrissy walked in, somehow scatterbrained and totally organized at the same time. "Let's go, it's time for your photo shoot."

Nudge immediately started bubbling. _Oh boy…_ I thought to myself. "C'mon guys this'll be so much fun! I never thought I'd ever get the chance to model or anything like that! This is gonna be just like ANTM cycle 11, which is my favorite, when they did the CoverGirl photo shoot. Analeigh was so awesome, I _cannot_ _believe_ she didn't win! Speaking of winning, how big of a chance do you think we have, because I think…" She trailed off and her eyes widened considerably.

We arrived at the place where our photos would be taken and there were three people all posing together. One a very tall and skinny strawberry blonde with twinkling blue eyes, another tall dark haired boy with eyes so dark it made me shiver, and a sweet- looking blonde girl with brilliant sapphires for eyes.

"We stand no chance." Gazzy stated flatly.

I smacked him and scolded lightly, "If you talk like that we sure won't."

Chrissy was glaring at the male who I assumed was the other Family's assistant. "I hate that guy."

"Who?"

She sighed dramatically before running a hand through her slightly frazzled hair. "His name's Mike. Ugh. Do you see that look he's giving me? So far, he's always gotten the winning Family. It absolutely sucks!"

The dark haired girl took a deep breath before shouting, "Hey, Mike! You guys are taking way too long."

"Cool it, Christina!" Chrissy fumed, her face flushing; I couldn't tell if it was due to embarrassment at her full name being used or if she was so mad her cheeks turned pink. "We'll be done in five."

We waited patiently. Well, we waited sort of patiently. "There! We're done!" Mike hollered over to Chrissy, grinning. She scowled back.

"It's so cute." Nudge whispered in my ear. I lifted a brow, and she groaned. "You're so clueless. It's obvious he likes her." I shrugged, not really caring.

I started glancing around the room to fully take in my surroundings. As my eyes flitted around, I noticed a familiar girl with red hair was talking with the dark haired boy from the opposite Family. She laughed and placed a hand on his shoulder, and his lips twitched in a half-smirk half-smile.

Lissa. That's who she was. The girl from the previous season… and Sam! As I scanned the area, I saw him sitting in a chair watching the Family. They must be the guest stars for this season.

"Max…" Chrissy was saying, careful not to get near me so I wouldn't smack her again. "Time to go!" We all walked to the spot where the other Family was standing.

As I walked past him, the boy with the dark hair bumped into me. I couldn't tell if he did it on purpose or not. I whirled around and opened my mouth ready to snap at him. Would it kill people to watch where they're going?

What I saw on his face kind of surprised me. He was actually sort of… handsome. His sharp angular features held no expression as he sized me up. "Watch where you're going," I muttered angrily.

There was a slight pause before he stated in a bored tone, "You're creative."

I glared at him and he glared back. I almost shivered. His black stare was kind of creepy and the flecks of bronze and gold in his eyes were almost unearthly. His black hair was hanging over his face and he sort of loomed over me, at least five inches taller than I stood. For the first time in my life, I was intimidated by a guy.

We probably would have continued staring each other down but Chrissy shouted, "Hey, Max! C'mon!"

In that same emotion lacking voice he commented, "Cya, around, peasant." I hated spoiled rich kids like him. He didn't even know how badly we needed this money. He didn't understand. I trembled with rage and I felt my cheeks turn pink as I decked him, hard.

I lifted a hand to my mouth and gasped sarcastically. "Golly, I'm _so _sorry!"

His eyes danced with anger. "You will be."

I snickered before taunting, "You're creative."

"At least I'm not a freak." I winced as I heard the familiar jibe. He struck a nerve. That was the one insult that I just couldn't stand for, uh, personal reasons.

_You will not cry, Max. _ "Shut up!" I told him before flipping him off. I couldn't help myself from glancing in one of the many mirrors everywhere.

I saw a girl, with blonde-ish hair and boring brown eyes. Childlike freckles contrasted with the strong features on my face. My clothes were tattered and old looking and I wondered for a split second if I was some impoverished freak.

"Max," Nudge said gently, pulling my arm. My fists were still clenched. "He's just a jerk, you shouldn't worry about him."

I mumbled back, "Right."

"Smile! Nobody is going to fall in love with someone with a permanent scowl on their face," My photographer shouted at me.

I pasted on a grin and he said, "Beautiful!" The camera clicked as I shifted poses the way he told me to. "You should model."

I couldn't help but toss my head back a little and laugh, bringing my hand to my chest as I tried to stop cracking up. When I finally stopped, I gulped in deep breaths of air. "Yeah, right."

He smiled at me as I posed and smiled again. "Nope, we're done."

Nudge beamed and skipped over. "Yay! That means it's _finally_ my turn."

I smiled at her and she flashed her pearly whites back at me. I walked away, shaking my head.

When I turned around, she was striking a pose like a pro, a dainty smile covering her lips. She was beautiful, and I could actually see her modeling. When Nudge finished, Gazzy walked up.

Eventually, they called us all up to pose together. I grimaced as I saw the boy sitting, watching our shoot. I felt myself shut down. "Max! You were doing so well."

I swear I heard him mutter, "What kind of a name is Max?"

My photographer started criticizing me and I thought to myself, _This is what you're going to have to deal with _all the time. _This is what you got yourself into, and there's no backing out now._

So I did the only thing I could. I put on the happiest face I could muster and tried to lose myself in the flashing of camera bulbs all around me.

**(A/N) Sorry the wait was so long! I liked this chapter, but the ending was a bit iffy for me… sorry if it sucks .**


	4. Filming

**(A/N) I want to know how many of you actually read these things. If you do, leave me a review and somewhere in it include the phrase "pickles are my life." I just chose something really random that wouldn't be in a normal review, I don't worship pickles or anything like that.**

**Fang POV**

I felt like a stalker as I watched the other Family working on taking their pictures. The blonde girl, Max, seemed shaken up and for a moment I felt bad. I never meant to hurt her or offend or. Or, yeah, I guess I sort of did, but I didn't expect her to seem to sad.

A few times she made eye contact with me and I held her gaze. At one point, someone must have said something really funny because she tossed her hair behind her and laughed. She was a strange sort of beautiful, but not even I could deny that she was very attractive.

When her Family finished the shoot, they called us all over to film footage. I stood next to Iggy who was clearly checking out the two girls and shots my hand out and smacked him on the back of the head. "Ow…" He muttered.

The girl Chrissy was prattling about how they were going to film us standing. It honestly all sounded like a load of bull crap, but I wasn't going to burst her bubble. Good thing too, because Max beat me to it, "So what exactly is the point in this?"

Chrissy sighed, and it was quite obvious that they had gone through several similar conversations. "Because, Max, that's just the way it works."

The blonde scowled and glared at the petite woman who simply stood there, rolling her eyes mumbling unconvincingly, "You don't scare me."

Max grinned and asked, "You sure?"

Impatiently, I snapped out, "We don't have all day."

"Yes, right." Chrissy told me, nodding her head in my direction. "Let's get started!"

"Filming Max individually. Take twenty-three. Action." The man said, bored and he snapped the stick thing together. Truth being told, I kinda wanted to go steal that and start playing with it.

Max stood with her hands on her hips, smirking off to the side as she read off the teleprompter. "My name is Maximum Ride." She got up and walked around and sat down on the couch. "We need this money." She made full eye contact with the camera as she said coldly, "And I'll do whatever it takes to win."

"Hallelujah!" Chrissy screamed out. "Good gracious, was that really so hard?"

Max groaned. "I sound like an idiot."

Chrissy sighed and waggled a finger at Max, "That may be true, but you aren't in charge."

We already filmed everyone, and it was a good thing too. It took over an hour to get Max's footage when it only took about ten minutes for everyone else to nail their lines. She was being difficult, and I kind of wanted to strangle her. That, and I wanted to laugh because some of the stuff she said made sense.

"Let's move on and film all of you together." Mike stated as he shuffled us onto the area where Max was standing. "Okay, so what you're going to do is stand and glare at the person of the opposite age."

We all arranged ourselves and started staring each other down. "Now what have I told you countless times again?" Chrissy asked, sounding frazzled. "Wait until we say action."

"Did that one count?" Gazzy mouthed to Max who chuckled a bit.

This was going to be a long day.

I sat down on the couch, exhausted after all the filming. I wanted to pull my hair out after all the stress that came with being on this show. "Ow." I heard someone mumble very close to me.

I looked over and saw Max, half of her leg underneath me. "Sorry." I ground out, shifting off her.

Her eyes widened in fake surprise, "Wow, you actually know what that word means?"

"Just because I have money doesn't make me an idiot," I spat at her. People like her got on my nerves. We were well off because we worked really hard for it. We didn't have any parents, but I got famous after I started blogging about the issues we had.

She scoffed at me, "Oh really? I wouldn't be so sure about that." There was this sort of flame in her eyes, this spark. It was plain to see that she could take care of herself really well, and a small part of me admired her for that.

"You're not like a lot of people," I observed, hoping I didn't sound like a creeper.

She just stared at me flatly before commenting dryly, "Thanks for noticing."

"Maximum Ride." I said slowly, letting the name roll around on my tongue. She lifted her brows at me as if to ask, _Why the heck are you saying my name, you jerk?_ "Why are you called that?"

She looked at me, but this time her gaze was more intense and that fire burned brighter. "Why do you think you deserve to know?" She lifted her brows again before she whispered sarcastically, "Just a little something to think about when you're not too busy counting your money."

As she stood and walked away, I couldn't help but think about what she said. She had a good point. I didn't deserve to know, but that only make me want to find out more about her. I was really screwed up.

**(A/N) Alright, so how was that? The FAX is progressing… sorta!**


	5. Getting to Know the Family Members

**(A/N) Same AN on **_**The List.**_** You know what I realized when I was reading reviews? You guys **_**really**_** don't like pickles. Lol. I mean, in almost every comment I got something like "Pickles are my life even though I hate pickles." You know the weird thing? I hate pickles too! Dunno why I picked that… haha! Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter and I hope it explains a lot.**

**IMPORTANT! For those of you on Max-Dan-Wiz, I finally updated my account… So you guys can check my profile for the link to my page or if you don't wanna do that, then search for everyoneisMISunderstood and I should come up ;) If you wanna friend request me, go right ahead but if your user is different than on FanFiction, tell me who you are. Even if you don't, eh, I'll probably still accept! On to the story!**

**Max POV**

It had been days since my first real conversation with Fang and now I was in a pickle. Yes, that's right in a pickle. Chrissy just told us we had to spend one day with the corresponding person of our age from the other family. In other words, I would have to spend the day with Fang, the demon reincarnated.

Chrissy called out, "Oh Maaaaaax."

"Don't call me thaaaaaat." I whispered sarcastically. Now, to be honest, I really liked Chrissy. But when she was in producing mode… holy crap, I never knew it was possible for someone to be so high strung and annoying.

"Yeah?" I asked her, not wanting to deal with her right now. Really, I just didn't want to spend any time with Fang and it was probably unfair of me to take that out on her even though, well, it was kinda her fault.

The petite woman was waving a pencil around and grabbed it out of fear that she would poke my eye out. (Trust me; I've seen it happen…) "Hey! What was that for?" I didn't respond on gestured for her to continue. "Anyway… where do you want to go with Fang?"

"Uh, nowhere?" I responded honestly. She got this surprised look on her face and I groaned internally and braced myself.

Sure enough, she began to prattle, "Why don't you want to spend time with him? You seemed to be getting along with him pretty well. When you were talking to him you got this really intense look on your face, kinda like you wanted to start making ou-"

"Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa." I said intelligently, trying to process what she just told me. Making out with Fang? Me? That would never happen. "Okay. I wouldn't… never mind. Anyway, I've got a feeling you already know where you want us to go."

"I gotta feelin'… whoo-hoo!" She sang, and I covered my ears and told her they were bleeding. She laughed and said, "Hey, maybe that should be your theme song for the show!"

I glared at her and protested, "Gosh, no!"

She pouted before perking up and chirping, "So I think you should just stay here on set with Fang. Just so you can get used to hanging out with him."

I breathed a sigh of relief. At least we wouldn't be going somewhere I'm not comfortable or someplace I've never gone. "Well, I'm still not looking forward to it."

"You should, he's really nice."

I gaped at her. Fang and nice don't belong in the same paragraph, let alone the same sentence. "He's a total jerk!"

Chrissy looked genuinely confused. "I've seen him talking to his sister. He treats her so nicely, it's hard to believe you hate him so much!" She let out a little laugh.

I blinked in confusion before I walked over to Fang. I held my chin high, trying to show him that he didn't have control over me and that he couldn't make me feel bad and nervous about talking to him. "We're supposed to hang out."

"I heard. I'm dying of excitement." He said, emotionless. His eyes were cast in a different direction.

We didn't talk to each other. We just stood there, neither of us really feeling like trying to break the awkward silence. But then again, Fang was Mr. Silent, so maybe he reveled in be a social outcast. Eventually though, my curiosity got the better of me. "So I hear you're really close to the other members of your Family."

He lifted and eyebrow and a bit of curiosity leaked into his voice as he asked, "Why do you care?"

"Because I don't like to hate people, and I'm trying to find some sort of good thing about you."

"Well, apart from my killer fashion sense, I play a mean harmonica." He stated wryly, his lips lifting a sardonic smile.

I glowered at him and crossed my arms over my chest. "So you do like your family."

He simply stated, "Well, yeah."

"I love mine too."

"That would explain why you're here." He said in a _duh_ tone. "You're not as bad as I thought."

I tried to think of a way to say 'thank you' and somehow be sarcastic but show him that I meant it. Instead, I told him in a half-teasing half-sarcastic tone, "You're even worse than I imagined."

He mimicked my lilting tone and told me, "You don't mean that."

"You sure?"

"Not really," He replied honestly a dozen emotions on his face. I was kind of startled to see a side of him that seemed sensitive and serious. Then, just as soon as it came, it disappeared.

A cocky smirk formed on his face and I blinked in confusion, not understanding how someone could keep in so many feelings. "Why do you always hide everything?" I blurted out, unaware of why I was even asking.

"Why do you think you deserve to know?" When he repeated the exact words I told him earlier, they felt like a slap in the face.

Slowly, I let the words roll off my tongue, "I guess I don't really deserve to know."

His gaze seemed to pierce straight through me, and they somehow managed to see my soul. "Exactly."

**(A/N) Now how's that for a dramatic ending? And how many of you giggled a little when you saw the pickle reference? That's going to be my new goal… to somehow mention pickles in every chapter. UPDATE: I just ate pickles with lunch. No joke.  
**


	6. Gaining Experience

**(A/N) So how many days has it been? Weeks? Hopefully not months! Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter. I had serious writer's block and lack of inspiration.**

**IMPORTANT!!! Am I putting in too much FAX? You guys need to tell me, please! **

**Max POV**

"Max! Up and at 'em!" Chrissy screamed, way too close to my ear. I groaned and made an odd noise before rolling over, trying to get away from her voice which seemed a lot shriller than usual. "C'mon! Up, up, up! It's a brand new day, and-"

I snapped up and hit her with my pillow. I shouted at her hoarsely, "Oh, just _shut up_!"

I rubbed my eyes, and when I opened them, I saw Chrissy glaring at me. Under her breath she muttered, "You don't have to be rude…"

Shoving her out of the way, I mumbled, "If you want me to get up, you have to get out so I can change." She lifted her brows but exited the room like I asked of her.

When I had gotten dressed, I shuffled out the door. While walking and swearing about how it was way to early to be up, I bumped into someone. "Sorry." I said swiftly, not bothering to lift my eyes from the ground.

A laugh sounded in my ears, and I jerked my head up, a fierce stare on my face. I blinked. It was a guy. A cute one. A _familiar_ one. "Whoa! Someone's in a bad mood."

"You're way too cheery for six in the morning." I told him smartly. I rolled my eyes and began walking again.

Just when I thought I lost him, I heard the same chuckle. "Why don't you wait up? We're headed for the same place."

"Yeah? You a stalker or something?" I demanded, hands on my hips. What can I say, I've always been a little on the paranoid side. His blonde hair fell into his hazel eyes which seemed to have a bit of a sparkle in them.

He grinned and said, "Naw, but I can see why you'd have quite a few of those. You're gorgeous."

Ducking my head, I tried to conceal my blush. While I was flattered, I was also more than a little creeped out. Who was this guy? "And I'm Sam. You know, from the last season?"

Once again, my head swiveled up toward him. "Oh." I said, feeling embarrassed. It was clear to me now who he was, I had seen his face plastered over all the magazines for awhile. He was one of the hottest males alive according to _J-14_, a magazine I saw Nudge reading one day.

Trying not to think about that, I snapped my fingers and exclaimed, "That's right! We're supposed to get to know you guys, hang out or something."

He nodded. "Yep. Lissa," His nose crinkled in distaste when he said her name, "Has been bugging me since we got here. Hopefully she won't tear my head off!" He laughed again, something I noticed he did a lot. It was almost… endearing.

I smiled a bit and replied, "That would be bad. So, uh, refresh my memory, who won last season?" I asked him, a sheepish look on my face replacing my smile.

"No problem." He told me, seeming quite genuine. "We won. Meaning me and my friends."

I bobbed my head. "That's cool. How'd you guys do it?"

Suddenly, he was turning his head in the direction of the room we were heading to and mused, "That's a talk for a different time. I really gotta go. Maybe we could get a bite to eat later?" He offered.

Quietly, I thought about it. It wouldn't hurt, would it? I mean, one little… sort-of date couldn't hurt, especially if it helps me pick up on some winning strategies. "Sure. Why not?"

"Great!" He shouted over his shoulder, already running away. "See you at noon for lunch!"

Shaking my head, I walked calmly in the direction we were supposed to be going. When I got there, Lissa and Fang were flirting by the door entrance.

Without even pausing in my casual stroll, I thrust my arms out and broke the two of them apart so hard that Lissa was almost flung against the door frame. She sneered at me, "Don't you know it's rude to push people?"

"Don't you know it's common sense not to block the doorway?" I fired back at her. Not willing to say anything, I shook my head at her in amusement. I just didn't _get_ girls like her; girls who thought they could get whatever they wanted just because they're pretty. Moreover, I didn't understand why guys let themselves be walked all over because a girl is attractive.

I was expecting Fang to make some snide comment, but when he looked at me, relief shone in his eyes. Taken aback, I smiled cautiously just a tad before walking over to where Chrissy was bickering with Mike. "Sorry to interrupt-" I cleared my throat waiting for them to finish their childish arguing before saying much louder, "_Sorry to interrupt!_" They stopped talking, and I asked, "What exactly are we supposed to be doing today?"

"Oh we're just going to be having one last day of rest, pretty much." Chrissy informed me. "Sam and Lissa are just here in case any of you guys wanted to meet them."

I nodded and as I walked away said, "Okay, well, then I should get going." Shuffling my way over to Nudge, I saw her bubbling to Iggy. I shot her a warning look and headed over a little faster. "Hey."

"Hey, Max!" Nudge responded perkily. She beamed at me, her curls bouncing as she shifted from foot to foot. I shook my head. _She's such a ball of energy…_ I thought affectionately.

Iggy nodded his head in my direction. "What's up?"

"Not much." I coolly stated, not willing to bother with taking chances. He might seem nice, but we were in a competition, and with a prize of a million dollars up there, it could change someone's personality.

Nudge rolled her eyes. "Don't be so frosty! Warm up a little! Sit down, have a seat."

"That was redundant." Iggy told her, a bit of… amusement? Yeah, there was a bit of amusement in his eyes.

Redundant or not, I took a seat on the couch and we talked for awhile. Time was ticking, and I found myself enjoying not only Nudge's, but Iggy's presence as well. He was actually super nice and funny, and it was a shame that we hadn't met in better circumstances.

Before I knew it, Sam was walking up to me. "Hey, Max. Ready to go?" He paused before continuing, "Well, I guess we aren't really going anywhere, just headed off to the food court, but still."

I smiled at him and stood up. Nudge looked like she was going to explode. "Why didn't you tell me you had plans?" She asked angrily, hurt written on her face. I mouthed, _I'm sorry, _and allowed myself to be led away by Sam.

When I walked by the door, I felt myself begin to stumble a bit. I glanced down, and saw Fang's leg, conveniently sitting there. Flushing in anger, I hissed, "Sam, can I have a minute?" He complied and walked away, telling me he'd meet me there.

"What was that for?" I snapped.

No emotion was displayed on his face, except what was in his eyes. Trying not to admire the dark hue of brown, I could see a bit of surprise and something else reflected there. "You don't remember how he won, do you?"

I shook my head and questioned hotly, "What does that have to do with anything?"

There was a slight pause. The tension in the air was so thick; I swear I could feel electricity crackling through us. He regarded me icily and I thought for a second he was just going to drop it.

But of course he didn't drop it. "He used Lissa. I don't like her and I don't like you, but no girl should be treated that way."

I gulped a bit, though I tried not to let him see my worry. To cover up my slight disappointment, I told him, "Nice of you to be concerned, but I can take care of myself."

And with that, I turned on my heel and walked away, heading for the cafeteria and Sam.

"No way!" I said, cracking up so badly I thought I was going to spew milk out of my nose just like they do in the commercials. "He just sat right on top of the applesauce and it exploded?"

"Yeah, he totally did!" Sam managed to get out in between laughs. He glanced at his watch and got a look of recognition on his face. "Hey, I need to go. Got somewhere to be. But it's been so great getting to know you." He grinned and left abruptly.

Blinking, I couldn't help but think it was kind of odd that he left so suddenly. Oh well. Standing up and taking my tray to the disposal area, I dumped the contents left on it (pretty much all plates seeing as I eat a ton) in the trash.

I smiled as I walked down the hall, surprised that for once, a date I had hadn't gone totally awry. I fond myself thinking about how badly I wanted to see him again. Shaking my head, I told myself that I wasn't allowed to get too attached to him. Looks like Fang was-

What the heck was _that_? Frowning, I glanced in a room that was cracked open just slightly. Listening to the noises that spelled out a couple in the middle of a reunion, I shook my head in disgust.

Why do some people feel the need to make out where everyone can see or hear them? Of course, the room was pretty out of the way but still. I started walking away when I heard a breathy, "Sam, I missed you."

I froze and wheeled back around. Slowly, I cracked open the door a bit more and saw him standing there, lifting his lips from a girl sitting on a desk. "I missed you too. I killed time with some girl earlier today, don't worry though. She's probably just another obsessed fan girl."

The pretty brunette laughed and went back to kissing her boyfriend. Shaking with rage, I walked away, feeling my cheeks heat to a temperature that I was certain could fry an egg or something like that.

Why did he do that? Why did he feel the need to pretend that he liked me? It wasn't necessary.

But then again, he was one of those guys who thought girls were toys to play with when they got bored. I felt tears threaten to spill out of my eyes. _Do _not _cry, Max. You just hold it in because that jerk isn't worth your misery._ And with that, I calmed down a bit, feeling the truth in my little pep talk. 'Course, I was still plain old pissed off.

"Told you." A deep voice intoned calmly.

Jumping slightly, I interrogated in a hoarse voice, "What?"

"He'd use you."

"Whatever." I huffed out, trying to walk around him.

He grabbed my arm and told me, "But like I said, no one deserves that. So I'm sorry." His eyes flickered with sincerity and I yanked my arm out of his grip.

"I'm not even sad, just super ticked."

Fang lifted his brows. Somehow, I got the feeling he knew I wasn't just angry, but I tried not to dwell on that. My phone beeped and I fished it out. "You better answer that. You'll feel better after talking about it with your sister."

"What do you know?" I demanded fiercely. But somehow, despite my words, I couldn't help but think he did have a point, no matter how much of a jerk he was. Or was he a jerk?

Angrily, I told myself, _It doesn't matter if he's secretly nice or not. You're in a competition, and look what you got for not being focused. Besides, you'd just get hurt._

And one thing I hate, hate, _hate_ is getting hurt. Fang would not be allowed to hurt me, ever. I would make sure of it.

**(A/N) Alright everyone, I hope you guys like that! It took my forever to write, I kept getting stuck **


	7. Episode One Part One

**(A/N) Hello! So this is the first chapter where they're actually going to be on TV! So I'm gonna explain some stuff about this really quickly!**

_**IF YOU AREN'T READING THE AUTHOR'S NOTE READ THIS PART IT'S IMPORTANT!!!**_ **(Excuse me for my caps lock abuse. *Pats caps lock key*)**

**Each episode will be held over the timeframe of one week.**

**There will be 3 parts to each episode, all split up.**

**I was thinking that after every episode I'd do "reviews" on websites about the show, and I'd put in little bloopers or something. The only reason why I'd want to do this is to give me and you a break from writing all drama. (Trust me, from here on out it's gonna be very VERY dramatic, so I just thought it'd be nice to have some silly little things.) So let me know what you think about this.**

**Angel is going to be really mean in this, and if you don't like that… sorry.**

**I ALSO READ FANG! If anyone wants to discuss this with me, I just want to let you know that if you LOVED the book, you will not enjoy messaging me about it.**

**Sorry this (A/N) was so long, but it was really important.**

**Max POV**

We just arrived at our mansion, and I could feel my jaw drop. It was incredible. It had to have at least fifteen different rooms, and it was so beautiful. The Victorian-style home stretched much higher into the sky than our beaten up house. I was dimly aware of the camera crew zooming in on me and my Family's face, but at that point I didn't care. I didn't know a place could be so huge and so pretty.

The best part? I would be _living_ here. Yeah. Incredible, right?

"You're catching flies." Gazzy muttered and I glared at him before shutting my mouth. He cringed and I smiled at him to let him know I wasn't really mad at him. "This place is amazing, though." Gazzy said, gazing at the huge structure once more.

I sneaked a peak at the other Family and saw them sitting there, totally nonchalant. Angel was staring at the place with something like distaste swimming in her eyes. I couldn't help myself from asking, "Aren't you guys at least a little bit excited to be living here?"

"Our real home is pretty similar to this, so it's not that big of a deal," Angel stated, sounding bored. "But it's alright. Not at nice as our home. Ours is three stories. Much better." She sighed dramatically, inspecting her nails.

Alright? _Alright?_ My real house was just a step up from living in a freaking _trailer_ and she thinks this is _alright?_ "You're so…" Ugh. Rich snobs.

"What?" Fang asked darkly as his little sister walked over to stand next to him and Iggy.

I stared him down and said hotly, "You guys are so ungrateful! Don't you know that some people are living on the streets? And you say this is 'okay, not the greatest, but it's okay'. You're so incredibly ignorant!" I said, whirling around.

"Chill, Max." Iggy rolled his eyes. "Just because we-"

"You don't know what it's like to have to wake up every morning and not be sure if you have enough food to feed everyone! You guys live in a house like this, and we just got out of a homeless shelter two years ago!" I shouted at them, aware of the fact that I might have been overreacting, but not really caring.

Nudge broke in, and for once, she was talking quietly, "She's right." Her eyes were swimming with tears and she blinked them away before continuing, "You guys are so lucky. You don't even need the money, and it's really selfish of you to take that chance away from people who actually need it."

Angel shook her head before saying menacingly, "You're an idiot. Just because some people buy your sap story doesn't mean I will. So what, you guys are poor, whose fault is that? It's not ours for wanting to have fun… If you guys can't get jobs and make money, don't blame us for being rich. So you should just shut up and stop whining, you're so freaking _annoying._"

Nudge was crying a little bit harder. She _hated_ it when people yelled at her, or when people treated her badly. Who did this girl think she was? I walked over to her stiffly before whispering menacingly, "You don't talk to my Family like that." I literally spat on her and shoved her before walking over to where Gazzy was trying to cheer up Nudge.

Angel shrieked at me, "You did _not_ just do that!"

"If I did, you wouldn't be able to do anything about it. 'So you should just shut up and stop whining, you're sooooooo freaking _annoying._'" I mocked her as I flipped her off before taking the key from Fang's hand and walking into the house.

It was ten times more unbelievable once we stepped inside. "Wow…" I breathed, and I heard Nudge bubbling about how gorgeous it was. It was modern, yet totally classic.

Gazzy, Nudge, and I were all running around, checking out every room. Once we got to the game room though, Gazzy grinned and said, "Sweet," before staying in there and inspecting all the gaming systems and pool table.

After a few minutes, I called to Gazzy, "C'mon, we gotta go pick our rooms!" We all thundered up the steps before opening the door to every room. To my surprise, some of them had names on them.

The first one was Angel. I crinkled my nose in distaste before opening the door and seeing a room full of pink and fluffy things. "How ironic is that. A perfectly adorable room for such a monster." My Family agreed with me before we crossed the hall to Gazzy's room.

His face lit up, and I wished wistfully that I could have given a room at home like this. A flat screen TV was mounted on the wall and he even had a mini fridge. "Is it okay if we leave you here?" I teased. He nodded, totally rapt.

We passed Iggy's room and I was about to move on when I saw Nudge open the door. Inside was a bunch of… fire related stuff. Matches, chemicals, firecrackers. "Holy crap, he's gonna blow this whole place up!" I exclaimed, staring at all the explosives.

Nudge giggled delightedly. "Probably!"

We got to Nudge's room, and she opened the door. When she saw the inside, she literally lifted her hand to her mouth in shock. "Oh…" She whispered, walking in. Delicate crystal balls were dangling from the ceiling, casting rainbows all over the silver furnishings.

"It's very… _you._" I observed. She nodded, and I don't think I'd ever seen Nudge so quiet.

I closed the door before walking and finding my own room. Hesitantly, I opened the door. When I saw my room, I couldn't help but grin. The white walls were splattered with paint, and various words were written in the walls with black paint. I glanced around and saw a huge black paint marker, and I realized that I could write more on the walls if I wished.

Grabbing the marker, I wrote, "MAX" on the wall, surprised that they hadn't put my own name up there. But then again, maybe they wanted me to write it myself. Hesitantly, I walked out of my room, worried that if I left it, when I came back it wouldn't be the same.

I walked down the hall, wanting to explore the rest of the house. What I hadn't anticipated was finding "Fang" scrawled across a door and the overwhelming desire to open it.

_Curiosity killed the cat. _I told myself, trying to walk away from the door. _Well, it's a good thing you're not a cat…_ I thought as I opened the door just a sliver.

I was expecting black walls and black furnishings and fake blood and other creepy stuff, however, that wasn't what the room looked like. Sure, some of the furniture was gothic looking, but his room wasn't all that creepy. If my room wasn't so awesome, I'd probably be jealous.

Quickly, I tried to retreat before Fang noticed I cracked open the door, but I heard him sigh and ask, "What do you want?"

I opened the door and walked inside, cheeks flushing, feeling slightly embarrassed that I'd been caught. "Just… never mind." I finished hastily, already backing out of the room when a caption on his laptop caught my eye.

In large print across the top the words _Welcome to Fang's Blog!_ were written. I could feel my jaw slackening in disbelief. Surely this Fang wasn't the one who made the news several years ago? Surely this Fang wasn't the one who grew up abused along with his little sister and brother? Surely this Fang wasn't the one who had gone through the same past as me?

"You… you're _reading_ that, right?" Please say yes, please say yes, please say-

"No." He interrupted my mental chanting, amusement in his dark eyes. "I wrote this. You know, Angel isn't as bad as she seems."

I scowled and snapped, "I doubt that. But what do you mean?"

"We all have our shells. Acting like a brat is hers. Just like you pretend to be so tough when you sometimes wish you didn't have to be." He said simply, and even though I wished I couldn't, I got his point.

Fang hid everything. He didn't say much around a lot of people.

Nudge is a bubbly person, yes, but sometimes she surrounds herself in a false sense of optimism, happiness, and security.

Gazzy could take anything that was thrown at him, and admit it bugged him but then let it go.

Iggy had a wry sense of humor and an ironic way of looking at life.

We all had our flaws, and we all acted so falsely. However, something tells me that being on the big screen is going to bring out _everyone's _true nature, whether that's a good thing…

Or something really, really bad.

**(A/N) If you didn't read the A/N at the top, please do!**


	8. Episode One Part Two

**(A/N) It's been awhile **** I've been pretty busy, so I'm sorry for not updating… **

**By the way: everything that happens in each chapter is what is "shown on TV", so to speak.**

**Fang POV**

I sat there, trying to fall asleep. It had only been two days, and I was already starting to question so much that I'd always believed in I stared at the black striped walls of my room, wondering why we were in this competition.

Was it possible that Max was right? That maybe it was selfish of us to be here? I turned and punched my pillow. This was too confusing.

My eyelids started to droop and eventually I drifted off into dreamland.

When I woke up, everyone was downstairs. I yawned while heading down the stairs, wishing I could go back to sleep. Not paying attention to where I was going, I bumped into someone. "Sorry," Max and I both mumbled at the same time.

My eyes flew open and I glanced at her in the eyes. She turned her sparkling brown orbs down before deliberately going into a different direction. I watched her as she disappeared into the kitchen.

She'd been avoiding me ever since she caught me blogging. Not that I really expected her to do anything else, I mean, after all, we were in a competition… an intense one at that. I still remembered the way she'd looked at me when she realized we'd gone through the same thing.

My feet started moving, and I plunked down on the breakfast bar next to the blonde. "You're ignoring me."

She met my hard stare and firmly stated, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Of course she knew what I meant. Now that she knew I wasn't some terrible villain, it was harder for her to dislike me. So instead of outright hating me, she chose to ignore me, which was actually pretty smart. If I was in Max's position, I probably would have reacted similarly.

But then she glared at me. A look so full of anger and disgust, it made me think twice about whether or not she hated me. How could she like me in any way when she looked at me like _that_? Like I was the devil reincarnated?

"You hate me." It wasn't a question, but a statement filled with certainty.

Max got a slightly thoughtful expression on her face. "Maybe."

Ouch. I wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a good answer or a bad one, but the way she said it made it seem like it wasn't the way I wanted her to react. Of course, I shouldn't have expected her to jump all over me and promise that I never did anything wrong… that wouldn't be very Max-like. I didn't say anything, but I shot her a look and left the kitchen.

I was walking past one of our living rooms when I saw Iggy and Nudge talking quietly. She was giggling with her hand clamped over her mouth and he had this mischievous smirk on his face. Frowning, I couldn't help but wonder what Iggy was up to. He couldn't be using her, could he? Not the way Sam used all the girls in the last season? My fist clenched and my nails started to pierce the skin on the palms of my hands.

When Iggy finally emerged from the room, he lifted his brows at me. "What are you doing just standing there?"

"I'm gonna talk to her."

Iggy chuckled, though it sounded sort of fake. His eyes were flashing though he tried to conceal it with a jesting tone as he told me, "I thought you liked blondes… or red heads?"

I didn't say anything and tried to keep my face emotionless. There would be no point in losing my cool. "Hair color isn't that important. I don't like her… just want to talk to her."

And with that, I pushed past Iggy with a last stare over my shoulder before motioning to Nudge for her to sit down. She frowned almost nervously before getting comfortable on the couch again. "Is there something going on? I know we haven't talked all that much, so maybe it's not really my place to ask, but I just wanna know, you know? No, you probably don't… oh gosh; I'm not making any sense!" She blushed furiously before slapping a hand over her mouth.

I tried not to smile. She was a sweet girl, I could tell that much just by one little rambling of hers. "I just don't now you that well."

"Can I ask you a kind of personal question?" Nudge asked, looking down in a way that was almost shy. When I nodded, she just about exploded. "I read your blog and everything, but I'm just really confused. Why do you always talk about Angel like she's the nicest little girl ever? She's so mean to me, and I don't know what I did wrong! And then Iggy, do you guys fight a lot since you're both guys and close in age? Max and I don't fight that much which is great because I love her so much! I'm sorta off topic… do you even remember my original question?"

I just kinda looked at her for awhile. Eventually, I cracked a smile. "Angel is nice… if you get to know her, which you haven't really done yet. Iggy and I don't really fight. Speaking of which, I should probably have a chat with him."

I knew I was leaving suddenly, but there was just no way that Iggy could use this girl. She was too nice, too innocent. I walked around the house, turning my head this way and that, trying to find my brother.

When I finally tracked him down, the first thing I said was, "Why would you use her?"

Iggy blinked before saying calmly, "I have no idea what in the world you're talking about…"

"Nudge." I said just a smoothly, trying to keep my cool. Iggy could be a jerk sometimes, but surely I could convince him not to hurt this sweet girl.

Iggy frowned. "I'm not using her."

I snorted. Did he think I was stupid? "Did you ever think that maybe I actually like her?" When he asked me that question, I was dumbfounded.

"Well not really…" I told him honestly. But then I realized the badness of the situation. "You know we're competing, right?"

Iggy sighed, all traces of amusement gone. "Of course, I know. How could I not see that if we do win, she'll hate my guts?"

"Who?" Both of us grimaced before turning around to face Max, who was standing there glaring at us with both of her hands placed firmly on her hips. "Well?" She asked again, tapping her foot impatiently.

I glanced at Iggy before stating coolly, "You." And it was true… Max already hated us, but if we took money we didn't really need, she'd probably hunt us down and murder us in our sleep.

Max looked up at me indignantly before murmuring, "No need to be so blunt."

Iggy and I had already stood up and started walking away, so I tossed over my shoulder, "If you don't like the answer, don't ask the question."

We had made it all the way down the hall before I finally got a response, "And you wonder why I hate you!"

If I wasn't so good at concealing my emotions, I probably would have tripped or something when I heard the menace in her tone.

To my surprise though, I heard a loud laugh. I glanced over and saw Nudge, mouth open, gleeful noises being emitted from her mouth. "Oh, she doesn't hate you. I promise."

Why was she laughing like that? Was she laughing at Max or laughing at me. I sighed internally. Girls were too confusing.

**(A/N) I didn't like this chapter because this one is all filler with absolutely no point to it other than to take up time. Sorry it took so freaking long for this to be posted!**


	9. Episode One Part Three

**(A/N) So here I am, back for now! But I warn you, this is the last update you'll be getting for a few weeks because I'm gonna be going on vacation! But I might montage you with new chapters when I get back because I'm bringing my journal **

**ATTENTION! IMPORTANT! I've decided I will not being including a detailed description of every challenge; I'll probably do every other one. I'm not good at thinking of stuff like that, sorry :/ I can do one for every challenge, but you guys need to give me ideas.**

**Max POV**

I woke up to the noise of people screaming obnoxiously into a megaphone. "Everyone UP! It's time for your very first challenge!" Now I know that should have excited me, but honestly, it was just annoying.

Slowly, I managed to grab some clothes and change into them. When I trudged down the steps I was greeted eagerly by Nudge. "This is so exciting! I can't wait to see what the challenge is gonna be! I hope it isn't _too_ challenging though, I wanna do well. What do you think we're gonna have to do?"

I looked around the room and saw the other Family. Fang was sitting with Angel and Iggy, all clearly very focused on whatever they were talking about.

I turned back to Nudge. "I dunno, why don't you wait for them to tell us?" I asked, gesturing to two people with their swivel chairs purposefully facing the opposite direction as us.

They turned around and imagine my surprise to see that the two people were…Lissa and Sam? My lip curled as I glared at the sandy blonde boy.

He looked at me and smiled. I flipped him the bird and he stiffened. I knew I wasn't supposed to do something like that, and I knew I should've just played nice, but I couldn't help myself. He held my glare steadily and said, "If there's no issue, I'd like to start."

I scoffed at him. "No issue? Don't pretend like you don't know." I glared at him, feeling my hands clenching into fists. I wanted to punch this guy _so_ bad. "You…"

He cut me off, rolling his eyes at me. My jaw dropped and I flipped him off, beginning to tremble. "So, I'm sure you all have been itching to know what we have in store for you!" Sam said cheerfully. I wanted to rip his head off.

He was such a coward. He just completely avoided the issue at hand. He couldn't even fix the mess he created.

Gazzy looked up at me and saw my pissed off expression before he muttered beside me, "Remember, we can deal with that later. We don't want to make ourselves look bad on national TV. If we lose and seem like nice people, rich people could still possibly sponsor us."

I tried to calm down acknowledging the very good point made by Gazzy. I began glancing around the room desperately, trying to find something to distract myself with. There was a huge covered area in the living room. Just when I was about to ask what the heck they did to our favorite space in the home, the giant cover was lifted. I stared in confusion at the machines that were revealed.

They looked like… "Pac Man! Your very first challenge is going to be a Pac Man tournament of sorts!" Lissa beamed at us. Huh. I sorta forgot she was sitting there next to Sam. "Would you like to know what you're playing for?" She asked, sounding just like someone on a game show.

When we all told her we did, she beamed (fakely) and said, "An all expenses paid trip to the Bahamas!"

Everyone looked at her in disbelief. "So we're going to play videogames to play for an all expenses paid cruise?" Fang finally asked. Though he seemed to be the calmest out of us all, even he seemed rather shocked.

"That's right!" Lissa exclaimed, beaming like a Barbie once more.

I wanted that cruise so bad. Never in my life had I been offered this kind of opportunity. I hadn't played Pac Man since I was a small child, but I knew that I couldn't bear to lose.

"Here's how it's going to work. You're going to choose one person from your Family and have that person play against the other Family's choice."

I blinked in confusion. "But you said it was a tournament… doesn't that mean everyone is supposed to be involved?"

Lissa laughed daintily, as though what I said was "cute" or something. "No, silly! I said tournament 'of sorts'! I don't make the rules, I just deliver them," She told me, smiling. I wish I could wipe her stop facial expressions away.

I frowned before turning to Nudge and Gazzy. It wasn't as though we really needed to discuss who we would choose to represent us. But I figured it couldn't hurt to confirm. "Gazzy? You mind playing?"

"Not at all!" He grinned before cracking his knuckles.

We sent him forward up the machine. Iggy was already standing up there. Both boys frowned. They had actually become friends of a sort over the time they spent playing _Mortal Kombat_ together.

Iggy and Gazzy played Pac Man for what seemed like hours. Actually, scratch that, they really did play for hours. It was seven o'clock when they started, and at ten o'clock, they were still going. Gazzy and Iggy were both down to one life left.

I don't even know how it happened, but Blinky caught up to Gazzy. Gazzy cussed and shoved the console angrily. "Gazzy…" I said, but it was halfheartedly.

It just seemed so wrong that people that were already rich would be given something like this. They'd get to go on a cruise, a cruise they didn't even deserve!

Angel jumped up and shouted, "I knew you could do it, Iggy!" She hugged him before squealing, "We get to go on a cruise!"

"Congratulations!" Lissa said, smiling (AGAIN) at Fang and the rest of his family.

I walked over to Gazzy and Nudge and said, "It's okay… we'll get the next one." I couldn't help but stare at Fang and wonder if maybe he'd do something ridiculous like offer to take us with them. He looked and me and slowly turned his gaze away.

Of course he didn't say anything.

I realized something in that moment. If Fang and I had met under different circumstances, we would have been so close. Maybe we would've dated. Maybe we wouldn't have.

I could have had a best friend for life if it weren't for all the drama of this stupid show. I couldn't help but question once more if I made the right decision in entering us to star on reality TV.

But I couldn't dwell on that. I got us in this mess, and I was going to make the best of it. I set my jaw and herded up my Family and we all headed upstairs, deciding not to mention our defeat.

**(A/N) I really really really HATE this chapter with a PASSION. I don't know why this one was so difficult to write. I'm losing so much inspiration for all things Maximum Ride… The series is going downhill in my opinion, so what's the point in writing for something I don't even like? *Sigh***


	10. Reviews

**(A/N) Yes, I know it has been forever since I updated. I'm laying around the house now with nothing to do, so hopefully I'll be able to update this more frequently! :)**

**Max POV**

I stretched and hauled my butt out of bed. A smile played at the corners of my mouth as I realized that today was the first day when the cameras would be turned off in the house. Maybe we could actually take time to relax and unwind and not feel so competitive and high strung. Yeah right.

I plunked myself down on the couch, and I felt my face take on an expression of surprise. Walking over to the stairs, I hollered to everyone, "Hey, guys! Something popped up on the TV!"

Our television was one of the ones that can also be used as a computer, and I saw that the Internet was connected. Nudge was the first one to sit down next to me. She smiled and yawned, "What's that?" I shrugged in response.

Eventually everyone showed up except for Iggy. Amongst the five of us, we deducted that the link was something about the show that we should all read together. Just when I was about to ask where the strawberry blonde boy was, Fang rolled his eyes and told me, "You better start without him."

Angel chimed in with a giggle, "He never gets up before twelve! It's like, in the Iggy Rulebook."

Everyone in my Family turned and stared at Angel. That was the first time we actually heard her say something remotely nice. She scowled at us and informed, "I really don't need a bunch of peasants staring at me. I was talking to my brother anyway." I glared at her frostily.

I was just about to start when Nudge got up and announced, "I'm going to get Iggy. He's a part of this thing too, so he should be here when we read about ourselves."

She dashed up the stairs and I grumbled to myself, "If she's not back in five minutes, we're reading it anyway."

However, after only two minutes, Nudge appeared with a very tired looking teenager in tow. "I don't care what people think about me, I want to go to sleep."

I grinned at him. Iggy was the only one in the other Family that I genuinely liked. "Hey, Ig, rise and shine!"

He grimaced and growled, "Bite me."

I laughed before clicking on the link. When the article popped up, I began reading to everyone, "The first episode of the new season of Fight or Flight was everything we thought it'd be – and more. It's possible that this might be the most dramatic season yet! The Families seem to hate each other… but are they hiding secret feelings for one another that could cause tension?"

Angel, Gazzy, Fang, and I all turned to stare at Nudge and Iggy. Sarcastically, Iggy griped, "Well, apparently it's not that secret."

Nudge flushed and turned her eyes on the screen, refusing to look at any of us. Fang pointed to a video with the title that said, "Click here to see proof!"

I turned to everyone and they all agreed we should watch. Well, Nudge and Iggy didn't say anything, but I didn't really expect them to.

* * *

Nudge and I were sitting next to each other on her bed. "Fang just came to talk to me."

I lifted my brows at her before asking, "Why's that?"

She shrugged. "I'm not really sure. I think… I think it might have had something to do with Iggy. But I'm not one hundred percent certain." She looked at me full in the face and proclaimed, "I know I'm not supposed to feel that way about him, but I can't help it! I mean, it's kinda like how you like Fang and you just won't say anything, but I'm pretty good at knowing stuff about you, man that sounded a little creepy, but anyway, I know you and I know when—"

I held up a hand and asked, "Wait, what?"

Nudge beamed and told me, "You like Fang!"

I scoffed at her. "Oh yeah. It's so hot how he hates me and how he makes tons of money that he doesn't even need. It also really turns me on that him and his whole family is so selfish that they're even in this competition. Oh no, Nudge. I don't like Fang, I freaking _love_ him!" I finished angrily.

"You don't even know why they entered! I don't even get why you're so mad, you're getting completely worked up over nothing!" Nudge shot back at me.

My jaw dropped. "You can't seriously be defending them."

Nudge stood up and so did I. I couldn't remember the last time I was so angry at her and vice versa. "You don't know Iggy like I do!"

"I don't _want_ to!"

Her lower lip trembled and she told me, "Fine. That's your issue not mine."

* * *

The silence in the room was incredibly awkward. No one wanted to say anything, but eventually I told Nudge, "That was a stupid fight."

"Yeah, I know." She conceded, frowning a bit.

I thought it was almost funny. I didn't even hate Iggy that much anymore. I still felt the same way about Fang, and I couldn't bring myself to look at him. "She's right," He finally stated coldly.

"What do you mean?" I asked him, equally calm.

His face held no emotion, not even anger. "You have no right to judge my family for why we entered."

He really just didn't get it. I didn't even want to argue about this anymore, but my pride pressed me to sneer at him, "Kind of like how Angel shouldn't judge us for not having as much money."

His eyes seemed to darken a shade as he turned away, clearly seething. I was pretty mad too, but I turned back to the review and read, "The first challenge was basic. Fang's family dominated over Max's, and there seemed to be a huge rift between both groups of people. Watch the video below to see an intense argument between Max and Fang!" I looked at him, and he shook his head.

I didn't really want to watch it either; we both knew it would only add more fuel to the fire. So I plowed on through the text on the screen. "On a lighter note, it seems like despite the drama, the Families are still able to be themselves."

* * *

Gazzy was sitting in his room, video game controller in hand. "No! No, stop! You stupid car, you aren't supposed to go in the ditch! Aw… you weren't supposed to get smooshed either!"

Iggy walked in the room and said, "Let me show you how it's really done." He snatched the black controller out of Gazzy's hands, ignoring the swears Gazzy flung at him. He maneuvered through the race course easily before passing the controller back.

"Oh, it's on." Gazzy told him, his competitive nature getting the best of him.

They played again, and when Gazzy beat him, Iggy fiercely said, "Let's settle this. Rock, paper, scissors, slap!"

I charged up the stairs and demanded, "Wait, did I hear someone say rock, paper—"

I was cut off as Gazzy shushed me, a look of pure focus taking over his innocent features. "Yes, now I gotta beat him. You be the referee."

At this point, everyone was gathered in the room. Nudge was cheering for both boys, Fang was adamantly watching with a smirk on his face, and Angel was making rude comments to Gazzy. "You can do it, Gazzy!"

"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" Gazzy's hand was in the shape of a pair of scissors, while Iggy balled his long fingers into a fist. "Ow!" Gazzy yelled as Iggy smacked him on the hand.

But Gazzy wasn't done yet. "Best two out of three!" Iggy chose rock again, though Gazzy put his hand out, flat and spread wide.

"Aw, [insert censored _beeeep_ here]," Iggy complained after Gazzy slapped him.

Best two out of three turned into best five out of seven, then best seven out of nine, and so forth. Everyone was laughing, having fun for the first time since everyone got to the mansion.

* * *

"I remember that!" Nudge said in between her uncontrollable laughter. "That was so funny!"

After everyone stopped talking about the tournament held on that day, I pointed out, "That's the end of the review. It wasn't that long."

Iggy nonchalantly asked, "Hey, Gas Man… do you remember who won? It was me, wasn't it?"

"Oh, no way! Gazzy definitely won!" I argued back. "I'll take you on!" I shouted at Iggy.

He looked at me and challenged, "Are you sure?"

We were both smiling at each other. "What, afraid to get hit by a girl?"

"Let's do this!" He responded, determination in his eyes.

**(A/N) I know the ending was kind of abrupt, but I actually like ending it that way. Reviews would be super great :)**


	11. Episode Two Part One

**(A/N) So, I hope you like this chapter, it will have 2 POV's in it, so sorry to those of you who hate switching like that :P**

**Chrissy POV**

I was walking into the mansion, and I hoped no one was a light sleeper. After all, what would everyone think if they noticed some strange girl walking into a house in the middle of the night? Probably not good things.

So what exactly was I doing here?

You see, nothing terribly dramatic was happening between the two Families. They were cooperating for the most part, and it was days away from the next challenge.

That was a problem. In order for an episode to be interesting, a certain amount of trouble and anger had to be stirred up. My job was to ensure that criteria was met.

Even though I was getting paid for this, I couldn't help but feel bad for all the issues I was going to cause. I actually liked Max and it felt almost like betrayal to create unnecessary issues.

I had signed a contract, and I couldn't easily get out of it. There were no loopholes, and unlike most people, I actually read the fine print of the papers before I signed them. I knew what I was getting into… or at least, I thought I did.

I like to think that if I could get out of this mess, I would. However, my job paid well, and I was certain that Max of all people would understand that you do what you have to do to make decent money. Granted, I only had to provide for myself, but I never finished college and I had to scrape up some cash so I could fulfill my dream of owning my own bakery.

When I got upstairs to Max's room, I had to admit that I felt like a creeper. Here I was, with someone I could consider my friend, and I was about to cause her so much irritation. I opened my bag and I pulled out something.

Tiptoeing over to her bedside, I frowned. Right then and there, I almost stopped what I was doing. But then I thought of the way people in high school said I'd never make it and that I was foolish to chase my dreams, and I dropped the thing onto her floor.

It was drugged and wouldn't wake up until long after I was gone so no one would know it was me who put it there. I exited Max's room before I glided to Fang's.

I pulled out a cage and placed it by his bedside and threw a blanket over it to make it look like he was trying to hide it.

One more thing I had to do. I walked into the bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet. I placed a bottle of pills in there, among Advil and other common drugs. My work was done.

Slowly, I began to work my way out of the huge house. I wanted to live in a place like this, somewhere so grand and just plain beautiful. But I knew I'd probably never get that sort of opportunity, and I left.

Even though I didn't want to, I looked back. "I'm sorry, guys. I hope you understand."

**Max POV**

My dreams were haunted by… well, my dreams were haunted by nothingness. My mind was completely blank, and it was nice to escape the nightmares. But it was also unsettling because I wasn't used to such peace in my sleep.

Also, the blankness made life seem suddenly worse when I found a _snake_ in my _bed._ Yes, that's right, a freaking _snake_. It was on top of me.

And for the first time in a very long time, the great Maximum Ride screamed. I screamed like a little girl would.

Maybe I should back up a bit. See, when I was a kid, a snake bit me. I had to be rushed to the hospital, where apparently my blood reacted oddly to the venom, so then I was taken by the government for experimenting.

Some people might think that was a little extreme, but it turns out, my dad already wanted me to go. He was the one who gave me away for experimentation.

The scientists did awful things to me. They injected all sorts of stuff inside me to see if I'd react oddly to them. But as it turned out, I was just allergic to snakes in general, not the venom, just snakes, and all those experiments in relation to the snakes were for nothing.

Literally nothing. I found out a little while later from my mom that not only were they experimenting for the snake bite (in fact, they didn't perform any tests on me for that) but they actually wanted to see if they could graft avian DNA into me. Obviously they failed, but the point is that my dad just wanted any excuse he could get to learn more about me and perform awful tests on me "in the name of science."

It was not a fun experience, and I was _not_ ready to get treated like a guinea pig. Again.

Soon, everyone was in my room. Nudge and Angel, both squealing like me; Gazzy and Iggy, trying to get the snake out of my room; and Fang, glaring at me. "Sorry to wake you guys up," I told them tiredly.

Nudge shook her head and said, "No, it's fine. I know how much you hate snakes."

I didn't reply, only waited for the two boys to finally dispose of the feared creature. Once I was done having a spazz attack, I frostily turned to the group all huddled in my room. "Who did it?"

Everyone responded with various statements denying that they were not the one to place the reptile in my bed. Placing my hands on my hips, I demanded, "Tell me, _now._ Clearly it didn't make its way inside by itself."

"And how do you know that?" Fang shot back. "Look, let's deal with this later."

He was about to leave, but I sprinted over to the doorway and stated firmly, "No. No one is getting out until we find out who did this."

He rolled his eyes at me. "Why are you freaking out so bad? Never thought you were that girly."

I almost slugged him. _Just count to ten, he's not worth the energy,_ I thought to myself as I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, I snapped, "I have my reasons."

There was no way he could possibly understand. "Just because you were experimented on," Angel spoke up before pausing to gauge my Family's expressions of shock and continuing relentlessly, "doesn't mean you have any reason to hate them more than we do. Just get over it, and go to sleep!"

"You little bi—"

"Max!" Fang cut me off sharply before he crossed his arms over his chest. He wore a face of anger and determination. "Nobody did it, so just calm down." His condescending tone made me look at him full in the face, a dozen things buzzing through my mine.

Rage filled me. Maybe he didn't know what it was like to have a terrible fear, especially if it's only one, but let me tell you what: it sucks. You don't have a choice in feeling scared, just like you don't have a choice in being angry or happy, it just happens. "It's not even about the snake anymore; it's about her being the most ungrateful little brat in the universe."

And to tell the truth, I was more than a little concerned about my health. Last time, I had to be rushed to the hospital because I was playing with the snake for so long. I didn't know how my body was going to react this time, but I was dreading what I knew was bound to happen.

"If you think that's supposed to hurt my feelings, you're sadly mistaken," Angel said, sounding terribly bored. "I'm going back to sleep, and you better not wake me up again, or maybe I'll put another one in your bed."

Mouth open, I stared at her in shock. Maybe I should have gotten used to her being so impossibly irritating, but that was just crossing the line. "You do that, and I swear you _will_ regret it," I promised her. Her steps didn't falter, she only laughed.

I hadn't noticed before, but I was starting to get itchy. "Oh great…" I muttered before sitting down on my bed and scratching everywhere the snake must have touched me. "I need to get out of here, I can't sleep in this room until it's disinfected."

Fang got up and walked out the door. "Where do you think you're going?" I angrily asked him.

We all followed him into his room and he snidely asked, "Are we going to have another convention where we play detective and try to figure out who hurt Max's feelings?"

"You jerk!" I screamed at him. "This isn't about my _feelings_ this is about the fact that I have freaking allergies and I could _die_ if I'm not treated properly."

So what, maybe I was being a little overly dramatic. I definitely could get really sick though, and then my Family would have no chance of winning this competition. However, my words made their mark as Iggy and Fang's eyes widened. "Seriously?" Iggy asked incredulously. "I'll go check the medicine cabinet!"

"Nudge? You okay?" I asked her, noting that she was being very quiet. I followed her line of sight and my jaw dropped, for the umpteenth time that night.

"Fang?" I asked coldly. "Why is there a snake cage in your room?"

**(A/N) Oh, drama. Isn't it just great?**


	12. Episode Two Part Two

**(A/N) Hello, everybody :) I hope you like this chapter, I don't really have anything to say in this author's note.**

**Fang POV**

I turned to see what she was talking about because I didn't have a snake cage in my room. She was pointing to… well, a snake cage. I couldn't help it as my eyes widened in shock. "I have no idea."

She stared at me, and for once I actually let down my walls for a second so she could see that it wasn't me. I wouldn't do something like that to someone, and while I was pretty angry that she woke us all up about the snake she found in her room, it wasn't me who did that.

"Why would you do that to someone?" She asked disgustedly, still not believing me.

I stared at her levelly and stated coolly, "I didn't do it."

She placed her hands on her hips and scoffed at me. I could practically see the steam pouring out of her ears and her face was turning slightly pink. "Then why is that there?"

"I don't know!" I half-shouted at her, getting a little bit sick of repeating myself.

Max turned her head away before she muttered under her breath, "I can't believe this." She was absently scratching her arm before she glanced down and cussed. "The hives already?"

I looked and noticed there were clusters of red bumps rising on her tan skin, standing out harshly. I grimaced as she continued to scratch, a few of the bumps opening and oozing puss. "Ugh, that's so gross." She said.

As I stared at her, I could see the fear in her eyes. If we didn't have the right medicine for her, she'd probably have to drop out of the competition and lay in bed, watching the rest of us strive for the million-dollar prize.

"Max, is there anything we can do for you?" Nudge asked, clearly worried. "I mean, would ice be useful? Or should we just wait for Iggy to get back from the medicine cabinet?"

Max turned to glared at me and said coldly, "You know what would be helpful? Finding out who did this!"

"I swear, it wasn't me!" I shouted angrily, finally losing my cool. "If it was me, I would have apologized by now because I'm not a freaking _murderer!_" I watched as her face contorted as I referred to the comment she made previously, the one about how she could die if not treated properly.

Nudge sighed and she looked at me sadly. "I'm sorry, but it really doesn't look good for you Fang. Nothing is adding up, and right now, well, you're the one the finger is pointing to."

I lifted my hands in the air and was about to say something else in my frustration, when Iggy returned. "Max… I don't know how they knew…" He muttered, and he tossed the bottle of pills to the tall blonde girl.

Her eyes widened. "But- How did they…?"

Iggy absently told Nudge to go grab a glass of water, so she ran off to the bathroom.

"What's going on?" Gazzy asked impatiently. He had been quiet throughout this whole exchange until now. You could see it on his face that he was every bit as worried as Nudge was, and you could hear it in his voice.

Max frowned. "They had my medicine stocked. I don't know why they'd keep such high prescription drugs here with us, and I didn't see it there before…." Then she gasped. It wasn't one of those annoying 'ohmigawd I'm totally surprised' gasps, it was full of genuine shock. "It was them."

We all stared at her blankly until I finally got what she was saying. I stared at her, prompting her with a snide smirk on my face. She glowered at me before her gaze softened and she mumbled, "Sorry."

Gazzy's blue eyes sparked with anger, and he asked, "What people would do that? What if we didn't find the medicine?"

"Something tells me they would have had some back-up plan," Max growled before grabbing the glass of water Nudge fetched her. She unscrewed the child-proof lid and popped a few of the pills and downed the glass of water. She shuddered.

Nudge scowled, "So wait a minute. Are you saying that they were the ones who put the snake in Max's bed?" I nodded and Nudge's mouth opened just a bit. "But _why_?"

"Because we were getting along." I said quietly, knowing it was the truth as I spoke the words that none of us wanted to believe. Even if we wanted to get along, we couldn't or else the people running this show would do something like this, clearly not afraid to risk people's health. "That's probably why we signed those waivers. And I'm better that they're cutting this out of the show."

Max rolled her eyes, though she agreed with me. "Probably. It's so wrong that they can get away with this…"

For a split second, I grinned. I knew I probably looked kind of evil as I told everyone, "They won't." I walked over to the desktop computer in my room and hit the switch to turn it on.

Iggy laughed just as evilly as he realized what I was going to do. "Nice." He said, smirking.

When the computer turned on, I pulled up the website for my blog. Max was smiling too, but she asked sounding slightly concerned, "What if they remove your website?"

"Yeah, and risk having my sponsors get mad at them? I doubt that."

Iggy spoke up beside me, "They'll probably just counter with an article on their own site that we were being overly dramatic about this whole thing."

My fingers flew over the keyboard, telling the story of what happened while Max bitterly said, "That sucks. I just… I want everyone to know how terrible they are." Slowly, I got up from my chair.

I gestured to the seat and her eyes widened. "Wait, you want me to write the blog post?" I shrugged and I think for the first time, Max really smiled at me. I turned my eyes away and let her type away.

Half-way through her article, everyone started to file out of my room to go to sleep. Normally I'd be really irritated that I was losing sleep, but the whole reason why I started my blog was so people would know what I went through. I started for some kind of closure, and I wasn't going to deny Max that.

"I wish we didn't need the money so bad." She said out loud, still writing the post.

For a moment I was surprised that she was talking to me, but once I got over that I told her, "It almost makes me feel bad for entering."

She frowned and tore her eyes away from the computer screen. "I still don't understand… why did you enter?"

"Angel wanted to."

She rolled her eyes and muttered, "Oh yeah, and _that's_ a good reason."

It was my turn to scowl. "We didn't know you were entering, or we would have stopped."

There was a moment of silence until she started typing, the familiar sound of the keys being pushed down reaching both of our ears. "Thanks, I guess," She murmured right when I thought she wasn't going to reply.

We both sat there, and I was almost lulled to sleep by her rhythmic typing. Finally, she yawned and said, "I think I'm done." She smiled at me again before hesitantly offered, "Thanks." I nodded my head in response.

Then she went back to her normal witty self and wryly told me, "Don't put anything weird on that post because I plan on checking the comments frequently." And with that, she stood up and left, glancing back only once.

I wanted to read the thing she put on my blog, but I was too tired. _It can wait until morning_. I thought to myself before crawling into bed and falling asleep.

**(A/N) Okay, that's that! I'm rather proud of myself for not waiting a month before updating!**


	13. Episode Two Part Three

**(A/N) Hello, fellow Maximum Ride lovers! :D I hope I updated fast enough for you… More drama, of course!**

**Max POV**

It was the second challenge today, and I wasn't sure whether to be excited or irritated. I set my alarm this time so I could get up and actually eat breakfast this time in case they showed up again at o dark hours. I rolled out of bed and climbed down the stairs, moving slowly so I wouldn't trip on my way down. "Move any slower?"

I whirled around and lost my footing. I swore and steadied myself on the handrail. "And that's why I wasn't stampeding downstairs."

"Really?" Fang quirked an eyebrow at me. "I thought maybe it was because you love me so much you didn't want to wake me."

I smirked and continued walking down the stairs, tossing over my shoulder, "Yeah, you wish."

The tension between us had eased somewhat, and now we'd relaxed into some kind of casual friendship. The rivalry we had still existed, though we'd gotten past the stage where we just wanted to rip each other's heads off. I walked into the kitchen and practically ran for the fridge when my stomach growled.

Eyes flitting around the contents, I tried to decide what to eat for breakfast on that fine morning. There were leftover eggs and bacon from Iggy's fabulous breakfast the day before, so I reached a hand out…

Until a certain _someone_ snatched the food from under me. "I know you didn't just do that," I told Fang angrily, glaring at him.

And there we were, back to me wanting to rip his head off.

He said nothing, only smirked and walked to the microwave. I stomped after him, deciding it was way too early in the morning for Fang to be a jerk. "Give it!" I commanded, hands on my hips.

"And if I don't want to?" He challenged, still proceeding to press buttons on the microwave.

I couldn't help the threat from flying off my lips. "I hope our challenge today involves something really violent. And that I get paired with you. And that I win by pulverizing you into the ground."

Grumbling, I walked over to the pantry and grabbed five packs of Pop-Tarts. He taunted me the entire time while we ate, with me constantly saying something rude or mean and him making an equally snide reply.

"Why this early in the morning? Do you have to argue _all the time_?" We glanced up at Iggy, who was crossly standing in the middle of the kitchen.

I lifted my hands in the classic 'I'm innocent' gesture before pointing to Fang and blaming, "It was his fault. He stole my food."

Iggy rolled his eyes and said somewhat sarcastically, "Well, we do know how you feel about food."

"My one true love."

After awhile, our bantering woke the whole house and everyone gathered in our kitchen, and for a minute, I let myself believe we were just good friends, all of us, with no strings attached. Then Angel came down, and I remembered this was a competition with spoiled rich kids and sighed.

Why must life be so complex?

There was a slight lull in the conversation because Iggy held up a hand, and got this look on his face that said he was listening to something. "They finally showed to give us our challenge."

Slight disappointment washed over me, but I still said, "I hope this one's more fun than the last one."

Angel sniffed. "You're only saying that because you lost."

She was lucky that the door burst open at that moment, and we all acted like we were surprised by the people barging in on us. Over a loud megaphone, someone shouted, "It's your second challenge, and this one is gonna be a doozy!"

Fang and I both started snickering. Who still said doozy? "This one was kindly sponsored by… the classic family game _Sorry! _by Parker Brothers."

There was silence. No one said anything before I slowly asked, "What's with all the lame challenges?"

Fang leaned over and whispered in my ear, "They're all gonna be bad for the first few weeks. They have to do the ones from sponsors first before the good ones start."

Looking back on all the episodes I'd seen of this show, the first few episodes all had pointless challenges, all relating to some big company. "That's stupid."

"Actually, it's rather smart," Angel chimed in, "You're the one who's stupid if you can't see that."

I turned to her and sweetly cooed, "I'm going to enjoy knocking your little _Sorry!_ pieces back to your start spot. Though I wish it was your head I could knocks." The threat would have sounded much better if we were, say, boxing, but it worked anyway because I'm pretty sure I already scared her.

"Alright, enough bickering!" Someone announced perkily, and I flinched at the false happiness in her voice. "It's time to announce what the prize is going to be! For the Family that wins, tonight you'll be heading off to a five star restaurant, all paid for you! Also, the losing Family is going to become… the winning Family's slaves for the night."

I held up a hand. "Wait, you mean they have to do whatever we want?" Ideas were already beginning to form in my head, and judging by everyone else's reactions, they were plotting as well.

"That's right!" She agreed perkily, the pasted smile widening even more, if that was possible.

Excitedly, everyone started whispering about what we'd do to the other people, though I had the sneaking suspicion that we wouldn't punish them quite as badly as we would have a week or so ago.

"Since you can only play this _fabulous_ game with four people, Iggy and Gazzy, since you participated in last week's challenge, you'll be sitting out this time!"

Gazzy snapped his fingers and pretended to cry. "Oh, gosh darn it, Max, you know _Sorry! _is my favorite game!"

I smiled at him and patted his shoulder, pretending to be the loving mother hen. "It'll be okay. We'll make it through this tragedy."

The woman with the fake smile on her face's lips twitched down briefly, but then she was back to smiling creepily. "You'll be in teams, obviously! Max and Nudge and Fang and Angel!"

I was sure they were probably going to add in some kind of dramatic music, so I walked over to the table where the _Sorry!_ board game was set up. I sat down, and selected the red section and Nudge chose yellow.

"Ladies first," I said, smirking at Fang as I moved my hand toward the stack of cards.

Angel frowned and asked, "Well, what about me?"

I tilted my head in her direction and harshly told her, "You are a girl. But you are not a lady, because being a lady implies that you're not completely _insane._"

"At least I _act_ like a girl, albeit an 'insane' one."

My fist clenched, and when I saw Fang protectively shift closer to Angel I remembered that even if we were friends now, his psycho sister would still come first. I grit my teeth and tried to speak in a calm tone. "Fine. Nudge can go first."

Five minutes later, and Fang was dangerously close to getting one of his pawns inside the Home zone. "Seems I have better luck than I thought," He told me, smiling sarcastically.

I said nothing, trying not to let my competitive nature get the best of me. "Not for long… Sorry!" I shouted, showing my card.

Iggy laughed as I whooped and bumped Fang's pawn back to the start and switched one of mine in its place. "I think you're taking this too seriously, Max."

"Iggy?" I asked sweetly.

He smirked at me from the sidelines. "Yes?"

"Shut up." I snapped going back to the game and focusing.

Iggy only laughed more while Fang shot me a knowing look and said, "You know, you're only proving his point."

"Fang?" I asked again in that sweet tone.

"Shut up?" He guessed.

I grinned. "Exactly."

The game went on for awhile until each of us had only one more pawn to move in the Home area, and Nudge and I glanced at each other. _We can do this, for the prize…_ _It's just a stupid little kid game._

Two minutes later, we were getting down to the wire. All Nudge and I needed was a 7 card, so we could split the number and I could get my need four spaces to move, and Nudge could get her allotted two. "Please, please, please." I muttered, drawing a card.

When I picked up, I frowned. It was an eight. "You're kidding, right? One number away?"

Fang smirked. "Better luck next time, Max."

It was Nudge's turn, and everyone sat in silence as she drew the card. Her eyes widened, and she squealed. "Did you get it?" I interrogated, actually leaning over the table to see her card.

She was still shrieking, so I couldn't really understand what she was saying, but I laughed and we moved our pieces forward. "And the winner is… Max's Family!"

Gazzy walked up to us, buzzing with excitement. "Oh, man this is going to be so awesome! This definitely beats dumpster diving!" He leaned up and muttered, "Angel's gonna regret being so mean."

I grinned at him and asked, "You sure you're not my biological child?"

Fang and his Family were remarkably calm, aside from Angel who was scowling deeply, probably knowing that this dinner would not be very pleasant.

"I changed my mind. This was _not_ a lame challenge," I announced to everyone.

Oh, the fun I would have at the restaurant.

**(A/N) Don't worry, I will be including the torture in the reviews section of the next chapter :)**

**This wasn't really supposed to be focusing on the challenge, but more the way everyone is getting more relaxed around each other. **

**Also, in a few chapters, I will be featuring a type of Q and A. If you want to "ask" ad question to "Fang", if the question was not duplicated or if the answer does not include spoilers, I will feature it, however, I might have to slightly alter your question to make it cohesive with the story if I have to. Your question doesn't have to be about the fanfiction, or the show they're on, it can be what his favorite food is, it can be about Max, it can be about Iggy, whatever. Just say at the beginning of your review "For Fang's Blog:"**


	14. Outtakes

**(A/N) Wow, I actually updated pretty quickly :D I was so excited to write this though that I just couldn't help it, even though I have other things to upload. **

**Fang POV**

"Do we really have to watch this?" Angel whined.

We were all sitting around our giant computer/TV thing, and Max was grinning deviously. "Yes, we absolutely have to watch this!"

The smaller girl grumbled, "We already had to live this torture before, must we watch it too?"

Reasonably, I pointed out, "You know, if you say that she's only going to want you to watch it more."

"And put it on repeat," Gazzy chimed in.

Angel shut up after that.

It wasn't that I wanted to watch this either, but I knew by now that arguing with Max when you can avoid it isn't very smart. So I just let it go as she clicked on the video and last night's events unfolded.

* * *

Nudge was bubbly as ever, stepping out of the limo, donned in a dress that glittered when she walked. "This is so _cool!_ I feel like-like a movie star or something! I've never been to a five star restaurant before, and I can't believe this is really happening!"

"Nudge, you didn't get elected as President, you don't need to start giving speeches," Max grumbled, still not stepping out of the long, stretched out car.

Nudge giggled. "You're just mad you have to wear a dress."

I watched from the front of the restaurant as one long leg emerged from the car, followed by another, until a very angry Max was standing there. "What kind of a restaurant has a dress code?"

I almost smiled. She looked really good, stunning even. The hair and make-up team kind of went crazy on her and Nudge. Of course, the whole effect the dress had on her was completely ruined by the scowl on her face. She leaned over and muttered something in Nudge's ear who smiled and nodded.

The two girls started to walk toward the front of the door. Nudge glanced over at Iggy and smiled shyly. "Thank you," She said graciously as he opened the door, still staring at her.

Max, on the other hand, smacked my arm (though she probably wanted to slap my face) when I attempted to hold the door for her. "I know how to open a door," she snapped with none of the sweetness her sister just demonstrated.

I smirked at her. "That dress is _really_ making you uncomfortable."

She opened her mouth, probably to disagree, but in the end she only angrily told me, "Shut up."

I held the door for her anyway, and I could tell she was debating whether or not to punch me when she took in the surroundings. My Family and I had eaten in restaraunts like this before when we were being interviewed, but judging by the look on Max's face, she'd never been inside a place like this.

Her eyes were wide open in wonder, and she mouthed, "Wow."

Nudge was practically exploding with excitement, and Iggy was grinning in amusement, nodding at just the right times. Then, a slight frown crossed her face as she asked, "Hey, where's Angel?"

Shrugging, Iggy replied, "Said something about how she didn't want anyone but us to see her dressed up like a waitress."

Max snorted, the unladylike noise contrasting sharply with her poised and polished appearance. "Figures. Now, Nudge," She said, turning to her sister. "Can I have my stuff?"

I started to point out that it probably wasn't a good idea to sound like she was talking about drugs on national TV, but I thought better of it.

Her friend sighed and passed the giant sparkling bag to Max who smiled in relief. She practically ran for the bathroom, her heels clacking on the floor. I tried not to laugh when she stumbled a few times and cussed lowly before picking herself up and heading to the restroom.

Being the good host I am, I guided everyone to a small circular table with three posh chairs on the edge. Gazzy plunked down in one chair, and Nudge sat in another, leaving one more spot for a certain blonde who was still absent.

Iggy and I stood there, feeling slightly uncomfortable until finally Max got back. "And there's the Max we all know." I muttered, taking in her Converse and jeans. Her face had been scrubbed of all the make-up, and her hair was really wavy, like she tried to pull out the curls and failed.

"What, did you really think I'd stay in all that crap? My face was begging me to let it breathe without five pounds of cosmetics," She retorted sharply.

And then she smiled, and if I wasn't the manly guy I was, I probably would have trembled. Almost innocently, she asked, "Can you go get Angel?"

I frowned slightly before walking off to go find my sister. She was lounging in the kitchen, staring at herself in a cloud of murky dishwater. "I thought I'd ditched this stuff awhile ago."

"You mean being normal?"

She smiled sadly. "Yeah."

For a moment, i couldn't help but wonder if maybe Max was right about her. There she was, sitting there, whining about how she hated to be normal even though we were even worse off than Max just a few months ago. I wondered how sweet little Angel could have gotten to be such a spoiled rich brat.

I told her that everyone was waiting for her, and she smiled snidely, going back to her usual self. "Well of course they are." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and ushered her out of the kitchen and back to the table where everyone was hanging around.

Max painted on a haughty expression, and Nudge and Gazzy followed suit. They all laughed a bit, before the blonde asked rather snobbily, "Where's my water? I need it, _now._"

Nudge giggled. "Two slices of lemon here, perfectly chilled to thirty-five degrees Fahrenheit."

"And if it's not thirty-five degrees exactly, we're sending it back," Gazzy added on.

The three of them were classically portraying movies' takes on rich kids. Clearly, the thought they were doing a good job, though Angel did not.

The oldest of the three glared at Angel. "Pick your jaw up off the floor, it's rude to stare at people in a much higher class than you," She quoted. Angel had said many similar things to her before, and her cheeks flamed in embarrassment as she gritted her teeth.

Everyone (except for me) busted out laughing at Angel's facial expression as she hurried back to the kitchen with Iggy and me on her trail. We grabbed the water, the only thing related to food we were actually allowed to handle and asked for lemon wedges. When we got the beverages, we hurried back to the table, where everyone was laughing.

Angel slowly passed the water to Max, who took the glass and smiled sweetly. She lifted the glass up like she was going to drink, then shrugged and dumped it out onto the tile floor. "Oops. Hey, Angel, I think you should clean that up."

I could tell Angel was fuming as she hurried away to go grab a mop, because when she looked at the producers incredulously they only frowned and motioned for her to go on her way.

Nudge and Gazzy were sipping their water as they watched Angel wipe up the spilled drink on the floor. She turned to the cameras, muttering how it would have been much more appropriate for the roles to be reversed.

After she put the mop back, Angel returned to the table, arms crossed over her chest in defiance, waiting for whatever torture would come next. "So, I'm a little bit bored," Gazzy started, and his friends yawned to reinforce his words. "Fang, care to provide some sort of entertainment?"

I stared at him evenly, though really my mind was buzzing. Entertainment? "What kind of entertainment?"

He waved a hand through the air, smirking deviously. "Oh, be creative! You have your own blog, after all."

Frowning, I slowly asked in an expressionless voice, "Knock knock?"

Max groaned, but she smiled and asked, "Who's there?"

"Orange?"

Nudge giggled and replied appropriately, "Orange who?"

"Orange you glad I didn't say banana?"

There was a bit of silence. Then everyone started to roar with raucous laughter, and in between laughs, Max commented wryly, "Joke telling is _not_ your thing."

Still cracking up, Nudge howled, "You forgot like half of the joke!"

I sat there and felt pretty stupid, but at least I did what Gazzy asked. One of the producers was saying quietly, "This is great for the show!"

* * *

Abruptly, the clip cut off. Max frowned and asked out loud, "Wait, where's the rest of it?"

Angel rolled her eyes and informed, "Obviously they're only going to include the dramatic part of our restaurant experience. They don't want to disgust the viewers by showing them the way you scarfed down your food like a bunch of street urchins."

Max stood up and shot back, "If I recall, you used to be—"

"Stop!" Someone shouted, and we all were surprised to see Nudge watching the two girls. "Can't you go one day without going at each other like this? I thought we would all finally start to get along, but clearly, we can't!" Tears had started to form in her eyes, but she blinked them away.

Everyone was silent for awhile until finally Max reconciled. "Sorry," She murmured to Nudge. She looked at Angel, her gaze sharpening to points more deadly than daggers before hugging her sister, eyes softening again.

Nudge frowned. "I just wish things were different," She murmured quietly.

Max glanced at me, and both of us muttered under our breath, "Me too."

**(A/N) Reviews are loved! :)**


	15. Episode Three Part One

**(A/N) Hello, fellow Max Ride lovers! I know it's kind of been awhile, and for that, I am sorry, but I hope you guys like this chapter, it's going to be fairly dramatic, with a bit of FAX ;)**

**Fang POV**

I was currently in my room, trying to retreat from the rest of the people. It was weird being near so many humans at once, I usually preferred being alone. Though the company here was starting to change that, and I didn't necessarily like that.

Opening my computer, I wondered why I was growing to like being around people. Maybe it was because I'd never been near that many people who I understood and that understood me, all similar.

Sure, I had Angel and Iggy at home, but Angel was usually the one demanding attention and I didn't get to hang out with Iggy that much. Somehow, even though we'd been living together for such a long time, we managed to learn more about each other after coming here.

I'd always loved them, but now I was growing to appreciate my Family even more. Iggy made my chuckle, and Angel tested my patience, as did Max.

My computer was done loading, so I clicked over to the website that so kindly hosted my blog. I moved the mouse over to the post that Max wrote and selected it, finding it one of the most viewed and talked about pages.

I shook my head at all the comments on my blog. Most of them were relating to the show now, and let me tell you, there were some crazy fangirls out there. I smirked as I read through one girl's legitimate proposal to me, and another's legitimate death threat to Max.

Speaking of the blonde, she must have noticed the smirk on my face because she walked up to me and leaned over my shoulder. Her hair brushed my arm, and I noticed absently that she was actually wearing it loose instead of in her usual ponytail.

"'Go die in a hole you crazy'— Wait, that's directed at _me_?" She barked out a laugh as she finished reading the comment. "Someone's a bit obsessive…"

My smirk only broadened and I taunted, "Can you blame them?" I gestured at my face, and she scoffed at me.

Max rolled her eyes and muttered, "I'm not going to hurt your feelings by giving you a reply."

"Ouch," I said lifelessly, earning a smack on the arm.

We sat there quietly, both of us reading blog comments. "Seems you have a few fans too," I told her wryly, making a gesture to the screen.

"'Max, I think you're the hottest girl I've ever seen,'" She read, sounding almost disbelieving. Then she shook her head, chocolaty eyes flickering in amusement. "Must be desperate if they're trolling after me."

I snorted and didn't say anything, causing her to lift an eyebrow though she didn't say anything either.

And then it was silent once again. The only noise was me clicking the 'next page' link, and Nudge's giggling in the background. "'It sucks that you guys met on a competition,'" Max said, quoting someone verbatim.

"Wonder what they mean."

She stared at me like I was dense before she told me softly, "We'd be best friends if we met anywhere but here."

Struggling not to glare, I blanked my face and deadpanned, "We still could be if you…" I trailed off, knowing that if I finished, I'd earn much more than a slap. More like a black eye and an infamous Max lecture.

Sure enough, she turned her fiercest glower on me before interrogating sharply, "How can we be best friends? Don't you know how complicated that would make things? Do you even know how badly I have to win? Do you know that you'd be a _distraction_ if I was good friends with you?"

I shook my head and snapped in exasperation, "You don't get it."

"No I don't! Enlighten me," She said, throwing her hands in the air. She stood up and walked toward the door of my room, certain I wouldn't answer when I spoke up.

"We already are best friends."

She spluttered for a second. First confusion showed on her face, then a grudging acceptance, then anger, most likely because I burst her bubble. Oops. "That's… but why?"

I tried not to roll my eyes. "How should I know?"

"Fate must not like either of us."

I murmured an agreement before feeling myself close off. I didn't feel like talking, and I was certain to portray that to the girl who seemed to be able to read me strangely well. Sure enough, she closed the gap between her and the door and exited my room.

My fingers moved quickly as I typed something new for my blog. I wasn't sure how loyal Max was to following me, and part of my hoped she'd read what I was about to write and part of me hoped that she wouldn't see it.

* * *

_Welcome to Fang's Blog!_

Don't you just hate it when people try to ignore something that's painfully obvious? I think it's one of my biggest pet peeves.

You guys probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but don't worry, you will if you catch this week's episode, I'm sure.

Drama sucks.

Fly on, Fang.

* * *

It was much shorter than my typically blog post, but the purpose was for venting, not to earn money to keep my Family alive, and it wasn't to let everyone know what's going on. It was to let _Max_ know what was going on.

I'd be lying if I said there wasn't _something_ there, something between us that probably weirded us both out. But before I came to terms with it, she had to as well.

**(A/N) So, what did you think? :)**


	16. Episode Three Part Two

**(A/N) Okay, so this chapter was requested awhile back, I think, and it was a request to see how things are going with Nudge and Iggy. So I thought, hey, why not?**

**Max POV  
**

"Hey! Max!" The shout made me turn my head quickly. I already knew it was Nudge who called my name, so I smiled at her slightly.

She turned Bambi eyes on me and suddenly my smile dropped. Suspiciously, I asked, "What do you want?"

"What?" She questioned, tipping her head to the side in false innocence. "Who says I _want_ something?"

I shot her a look. "You never give me those eyes unless you want something. Spill."

She grinned. "You know me so well! But anyway, I was just wondering if it'd be okay if I went into town. See, there's nothing in the rules against it, I checked on the _Fight or Flight_ website, and everything's a-okay! I just think it'd be awesome if I could get out of the house for a bit."

"What are you leaving out?"

Her wide smile faltered and she swept her dark curls off her shoulder. She bit down on her lip, looking nervous. "Well, I wanted to go with Iggy."

My eyebrows shot up. "Like... like on a _date_?" She nodded, and I had the feeling a huge rambling session was coming on so I motioned for her to shut her mouth. I lifted a hand to my head and rubbed my temples.

"Okay." I finally agreed.

If there was one thing I had learned, it was that people didn't like to be told "no", and I didn't want to make Nudge upset over nothing. If she wanted to date Iggy, then fine, she could date Iggy.

"But on one condition," I added, and her face fell. "Me and Fang are chaperoning."

Her eyes widened again, this time in horror. "You're doing _what_? No!'

"Then I guess you're not going," I crossed my arms over my chest.

She scowled, and I knew she was going to start whining. Sure enough, in a high pitched tone she said loudly, "But that's not fair! I'm fifteen years old, and I don't need you to look out for me, thank you very much!"

"Why is everyone screaming?" Someone asked from over my shoulder, sounding more than a tad annoyed.

I turned around to see Fang standing there. "Will you quit that?"

"Quit what, breathing?" He smirked smugly at me and I resisted the urge to punch it off his face.

"You know what," I retorted sharply. "And besides, we weren't shouting."

He stared levelly at me. "You might as well have been."

I huffed. "_She_ wants to go on a date with _Iggy._"

"Teenagers wanting to date, it's the end of the world!" Fang said blandly, lifting an eyebrow at me.

Clearly, he was still angry. And based on his blog post, he was pretty darn mad. "I told her we'd chaperone."

He blinked. _Don't you dare undermine my authority._ I thought long and hard, knowing that he'd get the message. "Fine."

"Good."

* * *

"This is _not_ chaperoning, this is spying, and not just from you," Nudge informed me, a slight pout on her lips. But I knew she was just joking and she was actually really glad that I'd let her go at all, despite the camera crews trailing us everywhere.

There were even a few people that pointed and stared, but I did my best to ignore them. Having all eyes on me really was never something I liked, so why I decided to go on TV, I'd never really know.

Oh yeah. Because we really, _really_ needed the money.

Gazzy and Angel had come along too, and they'd already bought tickets to see separate movies. I eyed Gazzy enviously as he dipped into the theater that was playing some action movie.

I tore my gaze away from him before I turned green with envy. "Whatever, just have fun at your movie," I told her, pointing to the ticket booth.

The guy on the inside squinted at us, like maybe he'd seen us before but then dismissed the thought. He told us the amount of our tickets before Iggy swooped in and said, "I got it. And I'm sure Fang wouldn't mind paying for you if this was a date."

He winked at me and I smacked him on the arm, feeling a tiny blush creep onto my cheeks. "No, you'll be paying for me because if you don't I'll beat you up," I teased him, and he pretended to cower in fear as he handed the money to the teen in the box.

We all walked inside the theater and I kept forgetting Fang was there. Mostly because I was trying not to look at him since, like Iggy had been constantly hinting at, this felt a lot like a double date.

Which it was _not._

"I can't believe she chose a romantic comedy," I grumbled, plunking down onto the seat.

Truth being told, I was actually pretty excited, regardless of the excessive sap ahead. I hadn't treated myself or Nudge and Gazzy to a movie in quite some time.

Fang shrugged beside me as the lights dimmed.

The story opened with the classic viewing of the city, followed by writing in large pink font. _The Story of Jack and Jill_. I snickered, and my eyes sought out Nudge.

She was watching the screen, looking absolutely enthralled. I knew that this would probably be the only hour and a half of her life where she wouldn't talk.

The cameras zoomed in on the face of a girl who was clearly supposed to be "normal". And normal she was, except for the fact that she was completely gorgeous, like every other face in Hollywood.

She was whining to her friend (equally stereotypically pretty) about how her love life just _sucked._ "Oh, shut up," I muttered at the screen and I could feel Fang's shoulders shake for just a second with gentle chuckles.

Right after their deep conversation, a boy walked up to her. Fake blonde hair, blue eyes that were probably contacts, and a football jersey completed his jock-look. "Do I really have to watch and hour and a half of this?"

"It was your idea. We could have seen the one Gazzy was watching."

I groaned, not wanting to admit that he was definitely right, and now I was stuck with some over the top romance.

Romance movies are stupid because they aren't realistic. Yeah, you're just gonna meet some guy and within twenty minutes of knowing him, you're magically in love and destined for one another.

Gimme a break...

If you're going to fall in love with someone, it has to take time, much more time then that which can be crammed into an hour and a half.

Just when I was rolling my eyes, something landed in my ponytail. I ran my hand through the strands and found a piece of popcorn. I turned to Fang who was pretending to be absorbed in the movie. I glowered at him, knowing he'd be able to see me out of his peripheral vision.

Picking up a handful of popcorn, I flicked a piece at his chest. He turned to me and grabbed more popcorn and flung a kernel at me with precision. I laughed a little bit and I chucked five pieces at him, one of which landed on someone next to him.

A girl turned to me and hissed, "Would you _stop_? Jack is about to propose to Jill and I _do not_ want to miss it!"

"Well, I'm sorry," I muttered back.

I looked at Fang. "Now some poor girl's life is ruined, and it's all your fault!"

"What are we, five?" He mocked, lifting his hands when I threw more popcorn at him.

Mid-toss, someone tapped me on my shoulder. I spun to see a rather geeky guy with his arms crossed over his chest. "Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you and your boyfriend to-"

"He isn't my boyfriend," I interrupted.

"Ma'am, I'm going to have to ask you and your boyfr-"

Standing up I said in a louder voice, "He is not my boyfriend!"

The guy sighed and corrected, "Take your friend and get out."

Staring at his out-of-uniform Star Wars hat I murmured, "Or what, you'll use the Force on me?" But I still stood up and walked out, motioning for Fang to follow me.

Luckily, the movie was just about over when we were escorted out. "So we have fifteen minutes. You, me, Target Terror."

I jabbed a finger at the game console. He shrugged and walked over before picking the red gun protruding out of the machine. "Please insert a quarter," A mechanical voice chirped. We each withdrew a coin and put them into the corresponding slots.

Something you might not have noticed about me: I'm really, _really_ competitive.

So naturally, I was shouting at the stupid citizens who were walking around in the middle of a terrorist attack. "You dumb lady, get out of the building before you make a phonecall!" Just out of spite, I shot her.

"Max... what was that?" Fang asked, amusement laced throughout his voice.

"You wanna be next?"

"It's just a video game..."

"... Touche."

The next few minutes went by in silence, except for the sound effects coming from the game. We blasted everything in sight, and I dimly heard someone saying something about a new high score.

The other movies must have gotten out because I heard someone say in a familiar voice, "Oh great, she found the Target Terror machine."

I turned my head for just a second to see Gazzy when I heard the words, "Game over, player one."

I was player one. Fang smirked at me and I waved the gun in his face. "You're so lucky this thing isn't real."

"He's quaking in his Converse," Iggy commented dryly. "Should we go now?"

"Yeah," I told him sourly.

"You're just mad that I beat you."

I lifted an eyebrow at Fang. "Your point?"

"Game over, player two." Fang looked at the gun crossly for a second before putting it back in its spot.

A few people were staring at us and the cameras following, but we hardly even noticed.

I waved over one of the producers. "Hey, do you think you can get me one of those machines?"

**(A/N) This was mainly all filler... okay, it was TOTALLY filler, with maybe one or two productive sentences XD Ah, well, i had fun parodying the romantic comedy (Take no offense, I actually really like those, guilty pleasure).**

**I think Fang might have been a tiny bit OOC, but I think I portrayed Max pretty well in this one.  
**


	17. Episode Three Part Three

**(A/N) So originally I was planning on doing an actual challenge, but this time I thought I'd do the aftermath of the challenge, show you how they've changed since the first challenge.**

**Fang POV**

They beat us. Again.

The challenge this time wasn't even particularly hard, all we had to do was eat really nasty, unappealing food. It was almost shameful that a team with the most guys lost. Max and I went up against each other and she finished her thousand year old egg first by about a millisecond.

Gazzy went against Iggy and the younger boy won, which Max had predicted in the first place and Iggy foolishly ignored her warnings. Angel beat Nudge, but it didn't really matter at that point since the other Family came out triumphant.

And they got a good prize too. Straight up cash this time, twenty thousand bucks to do whatever they wanted. We still didn't really need it since I was still being sponsored by a bunch of different people, but a little extra money never hurt anyone.

Secretly, I was glad they got something. Maybe they could get into a nice apartment and stay there for a few months, and after that they'd have probably gotten jobs (at least, Max and Nudge could have) to stay there permanently. We already had a mansion and we didn't really need more.

Angel thought otherwise. "I did not just beat her to lose," She said, turning a sharp glower on me, and not for the first time, I wondered how she ended up to be quite so barbed.

My patience was wearing. "We can try to win next time."

"Yeah, right," Max snickered from beside me. She lifted her head, looking a snobby princess that I knew she wasn't. "You know we're better," She grinned at me, letting me know that I was joking and the corners of my mouth twitched but didn't turn up.

We all walked into the kitchen. "Iggy, you wanna cook something?" I asked him, and he agreed.

He started cracking eggs into a large bowl and mixed a bunch of other things in. Nudge was staring at him and asked several questions, saying that Max was never able to cook so she never bothered learning. He laughed and made a sarcastic comment toward Max, but she didn't respond, only frowned.

"You okay? Gazzy asked, and she smiled at him.

"Yeah, tired, I guess," She replied, yawning.

He asked if she was going to eat anything and she told him she probably wouldn't. My eyebrows lifted slightly. Max never turned down food, she always said that one of the greatest pleasures in life was eating. Plus Iggy was a great cook. I decided I'd monitor her (but in a non creepy way).

When she started drifting off at the table, I suggested that she went upstairs and got some sleep. Iggy was just pulling a casserole out of the oven and she looked at for a second. Her skin paled and she sprinted out of the room.

Everyone exchanged odd looks. Iggy set down the dish on a bunch of potholders before walking after her, being the medic of our group. Nudge ran ahead of us in case it was something emotional rather than physical that was upsetting her.

Half-way to the bathroom, we heard noises. Max was throwing up into the toilet with Nudge freaking out, asking frantically, "Um, what do I do, what do I do? I guess I'll just hold your hair up like this- oh, _ew_, there's puke on your hair! Probably not helping much… I'll just put this into a ponytail holder and—"

We walked in and she breathed a sigh of relief, looking slightly green herself. "We got it," Iggy told her, and she stepped out of the room.

Max was still retching and shot daggers at both Iggy and me. I rolled my eyes, getting the message. She didn't want anyone to freak out like Nudge.

I could practically see the "Next time on _Fight or Flight!_" previews. In quiet voice I muttered, "Will a challenge prove fatal?"

She choked, and pulled away from the toilet. "Out," She said fiercely and I held up my hands innocently but still backed out.

Iggy followed me. "Probably had some kind of reaction to eating that egg." _Even though you didn't._ We both heard the words he didn't say, and we both knew that Max would probably be pissed.

There was the sound of running water and then I heard the sound of water swishing in her mouth. She spit it out with a loud noise before brushing her teeth, the distinctive scrubbing noise much louder with her electronic toothbrush. She spat again and rinsed before emerging from the bathroom.

She must have washed her hair too because I didn't smell anything on her. Max tugged the hairtie out and let the blonde tresses spill down her shoulder. She finger combed her hair and asked, "What?"

"You ok?"

"I'm still alive," She responded, looking a tiny bit amused and very annoyed.

I nodded my head in Iggy's direction. "Make sure Nudge hasn't passed out," He quickly rushed away.

I leaned over Max's head, putting my hand on the wall behind her. "Was it worth it?"

She looked at me incredulously. "You're joking, right?" When I didn't say anything she continued, "Of course it was worth it. Twenty thousand dollars is a lot of money…"

She smiled then. "Maybe we can finally get out of that stupid place we've been living, get some new clothes. Buy Nudge a straightener that actually works and get Gazzy a PS3."

"And you?"

Max shrugged. "I don't need anything."

It was my turn to be surprised. There was a type of flame smoldering in her eyes and I knew that she was telling the truth. It was almost odd to see someone so passionate about helping her Family, but it was weird in a good way. "That's why I let you win."

It slipped out. I wasn't planning on telling her because I knew…

"You…" She glared at me, eyes wide. The fire changed to something angry, and I knew she was trying to sear me on the spot.

But then her facial expression changed. She seemed almost suspicious, and maybe just a little bit grateful. "I… you didn't have to do that," She informed me, clinging on to the bit of pride she had left.

"Yeah, I know."

"You let me win." She stated it again, like it was something hard for her to wrap her mind around. "I guess this is the part where I express my undying love and gratitude for you."

"Thanks would be fine," I commented dryly.

She smiled at me. It wasn't the sarcastic smile I'd gotten used to, but one that was far more vulnerable and maybe even a little bit shy. "Thanks."

I nodded my head.

We stared at each other for awhile, electricity crackling in the air. I was supposed to kiss her and I knew I was supposed to and I leaned in…

And she spun for the bathroom, skin turning white again. I sighed and followed her, pulling her hair away from her face. "You have a really weak stomach."

_Way to kill the moment._

**(A/N) So? Thoughts?**


	18. Vlog

**(A/N) I know. It's been forever. I'm sorry, I really am! I have no excuse other than the fact that I've been lazy, but break is starting soon so I should be updating on time starting next week! Hopefully…**

**This chapter is serious FILLER. Pretty much nothing happens here except me testing out my sense of humor which has probably dwindled. Gah.**

**By the way, I feel awful about not updating cause you know what I just noticed. I HAVE OVER TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY REVIEWS ON THIS THING. Thank you guys so much for sticking with me, I love you all. I sound like Miss America. Oh well.**

Fang stared at the monitor. The comments were overwhelming, so many of them revolving around the same thing. They all wanted to know what it was like being a reality TV star. Now, Fang did not consider himself a star. That would imply that he was widely famous, and…

Was he a star? Was he widely famous?

Judging by the looks of how many comments he'd gotten since signing with _Fight or Flight!_ he'd guess that maybe he was. "I'm a star," he muttered.

"Yes, you are, Fang! You're also a firework, so go ahead and show 'em what—"

"Finish those lyrics and you're dead," Fang shot Iggy a withering glare. The pale boy only howled with laughter, and Fang shook his head, wondering how the boy could crack himself up so much. "I hate pop culture."

Iggy smirked. "But, Fang, if you're a star you have to love pop culture or you don't love yourself. Tyra Banks says that the first step to loving others is loving yourself."

"That was deep."

Iggy grinned at his brother's wry comment. "So why are you suddenly a star?"

Fang rotated the monitor to face the other guy. Iggy whistled, grabbing the mouse and scrolling through all the comments. "We should do a vlog."

"A vlog?"

"Yeah," Iggy drawled, "a thing where we set up a camera and babble into it – which I'm sure Nudge would love- answering all of these questions."

Fang shrugged. He was bored. They were all bored, as they often were in between challenges.

"I'm taking that as a yes," Iggy said before bellowing for everyone in the house to come here. They all arrived within a minute or so, and he explained his idea. Nudge, of course loved it. Angel and Gazzy didn't really care, and Max was rather wary.

Nudge turned to Max. Max knew what was coming, and she certainly wasn't very excited. Nudge's deep brown eyes widened, and her lower lip trembled painting the perfect image of cuteness. Max both hated and secretly loved it. How could you resist that face? "Oh, fine," She consented with a grumble.

Nudge squealed, predictably enough, and twined her arms behind the taller girl's neck in an embrace. She tugged away and wandered into the room with the weird TV/computer thing and started searching for something that resembled a webcam.

She found one eventually, then it was up to Gazzy and Iggy to figure out how to turn it on. Max lifted her eyebrows at Nudge and asked, "Shouldn't you be doing this? You're the one who's best with computers."

Nudge held up a finger to her lips. "Shhh," She replied, giggling as Iggy literally scratched his head trying to find the device they were looking for.

Eventually, Max tired of watching the boys pretend to have the vaguest idea of what they were doing. "Go ahead, Nudge." Nudge walked up the TV and pressed a button.

"I found this in the first week we were here. I guess I never really thought we were gonna use it. As a matter of fact, I'm still a little bit surprised we're using it. Max doesn't really strike you as the type to talk about her personal life and personal relationships, does she?"

Max shook her head, both in response to the question and at Nudge's random babble attack. "Let's just get this over with, she muttered, gesturing to Fang's laptop.

Nudge flipped on the webcam and started talking, "Is this thing on?" Her voice echoed, surprising her. She jumped. "I guess it is working! Are we gonna edit this out?"

"I don't know, you tell me!"

Nudge shrugged. "So we see that Fang's been getting a lot of random comments and questions. So we've been thinking, well I guess it was Iggy's idea, but I definitely backed him up on this one, to answer some of these questions. You might actually get to see Fang talk!" She beamed at that, and both Fang and Max knew that this was a very _bad_ idea.

"Question number one!" Nudge announced. "Does Fang like Max?"

Cricket. Cricket. Cricket.

The awkward silence sliced through the air, and Max suddenly wished they'd decided to post this rather than let everyone see her disgustingly blushing face. She turned hoping to hide from the camera and instead looked at Fang. She remembered what happened the night before and decided it was best to face the camera.

Fang blinked. "Sure. I love her so much I want to run to Vegas."

"Shut up, and put your money where your mouth is, that's what you get—"

"Iggy, stop it with the Katy Perry," Fang growled.

Nudge cleared her throat. "Anyway, next question… oh boy, this one's got a lot. Angel," her voice hardened considerably, "Why do you hate the opposing team, er, us, so much?"

"Because you're all annoying and I'm sick of being around you," Angel commented carelessly, stating this like it was no big deal.

Max turned, hair flying, flushing again for entirely different reasons. "You didn't like us from day one!"

"Your point?" Angel shot back. "Maybe I'm just angry that you're stealing away my Family! Maybe I've always known you would, with your stupid sarcastic attitude and pretty face. You happy?"

None of them were happy, and they weren't happy when Angel stormed out of the room. Max was shocked, in a word. Of all the things to be angry at, she'd never suspected that was one of them. She glanced uneasily at Fang, but he was looking at his little sister, something like guilt on his face, then he blinked it away.

Max wondered briefly if things would be different between them not that she knew what was going on, but then decided it wouldn't. No matter how many confessions Angel made, nothing would change her mind, especially since Max didn't want to change her mind. Angel was horrible and cruel, for what appeared to be no reason.

And yet, maybe Max did want things to change. Maybe she wanted to see more of the soft girl that was exposed. But a bigger part of her didn't, and she was ashamed.

"So. Next question for Gazzy. 'So I've noticed that you like explosives and farting. Are you ever planning on mixing the two?'" Nudge wrinkled her nose.

Max groaned at Gazzy's excited facial expression, which was more than enough of an answer. "Whoever you are, _**xpskl**_**, **I plan on killing you for giving him that idea."

"Which leads us to, Max, have you ever thought about taking anger management classes?" Nudge giggled at the end.

Fang smirked at the blonde, whose mouth was hanging open. She was staring at the computer screen, trying to either spontaneously combust the laptop or the person who asked the question. She looked like she was going to pop a blood vessel. Then get mad about it. "Yeah, Max."

"Yeah, Max!" Iggy echoed.

The girl being talked about said in the calmest way possible. "As you can see from my reaction, I most certainly do _not_ need to take anger management classes."

"Right," Iggy mocked.

Max frowned at him and marched over to Nudge and snatched Fang's laptop. "Oh yeah, well, Iggy, where did you learn to cook?" She frowned. "Why don't you get a personal question?"

He guffawed at her before answering, "Honestly, I watch Food Network a lot."

Max snickered, getting the ammunition she wanted. "Isn't that channel for girls?"

"I don't know, but you could learn something from them," Gazzy chimed in. Max shot him a glare that clearly said to take her side, but Gazzy only shrugged.

"Okay, it's my turn now!" Nudge said excitedly. "Is there anyone I like on the show?" She paused. "Yeah." She didn't elaborate more, surprisingly enough. She fell quiet, and Max could tell she was trying not to look at Iggy.

Fang glanced at the computer screen. "Why is my name Fang? Ask him," He commented, pointing at Iggy.

Iggy shrugged. "When we first met he was apparently starving, so he was eating. Really messily, trust me ladies, _not_ a pretty sight. That was when I noticed his abnormally sharp canine teeth." He stuck his hand in the direction of Fang's mouth. "Which you've probably never noticed because he never smiles."

"We got a whole montage of questions for Fang now," Nudge said, grinning lightly evilly. "First, do you feel guilty when you win challenges?"

He shrugged. It was a question he didn't want to answer because he got the feeling that if he did, someone would get mad. He did feel guilty at times, but at the same time, he liked winning. It was confusing, to say the least.

Nudge asked, "What are you allergic to?"

"Penicillin."

Iggy snickered as he peered over Nudge's shoulder to read the list. "Do you want to be a Broadway star?"

Fang rolled his eyes. "Do you think I want to be a Broadway star?"

"Yes," Iggy muttered.

Max read off, "Are you like Edward Cullen and like to stalk Max in her sleep?"

"…No."

"I caught that hesitation!" Max shouted, really just joking but kind of surprised at the same time. Then again, she was pretty sure she'd notice if someone was stalking her in her sleep.

"Can you spell Mississippi?"

Fang smirked. "That's what spell check is for."

"Would you use that duct-tape to tape a certain person's mouth shut?"

He glared pointedly at Iggy, who was now humming "Hot n Cold" under his breath. "No. Way," He spit out, hoping to make the other boy stop. He didn't.

"We're at like five minutes already, guys," Nudge said after asking a few more questions about Hot Topic, favorite words, and Otakus. "I think we gotta stop the video. Everyone say bye!"

Fang grunted. Max waved. Iggy blew a kiss. Gazzy shouted bye, and Nudge reached over to click the video off.

"We are never doing that again."

**(A/N) I really don't know why I put so many random references to pop culture in this story… my bad XD**

**Betcha thought I'd forgotten about this chapter, huh? Nope. Can't decide if I liked the way this turned out, but I've been in a bit of a slump and I'm out of practice and I know it. Sorry if some questions didn't get answered, but I wasn't sure if it was getting too long :/**

**I know some people aren't going to like Angel having a soul, but I had to give her some motivation. She's still going to be mean and unlikable, we'll just have a reason behind it.**

**Reviews are loved more than pancakes!**


	19. Episode Four Part One

**(A/N) Wow, this is relatively early compared to how often I usually update… O_o? I'm a bit shocked. Have a great new year :)**

**Max POV**

It was strangely quiet after the vlog. Maybe we'd done all the bonding we could take in one day, or maybe we were just plain tired. Whatever the reason was, as soon as we turned off the computer/TV, we all followed Angel's lead and split.

I was in my room, decorating my walls. Originally, I'd only had a black paint marker, but I guess when the GameMakers noticed I hadn't put much up, they gave me cans of spray paint in a multitude of colors. So far, there hadn't been much I'd put on it. In the black marker, I scrawled few random quotes. In a harsh font, I wrote down a few names of people that had held me back but made me stronger in red, including my dad, Jeb, and Sam and Lissa. Why I put Lissa, I wasn't entirely sure, but I figured if she was anything like Sam, then she deserved her spot in red; it did match her hair.

In a much more careful font, Nudge and Gazzy were on my walls too. I'd invited them to spray their names themselves. Nudge selected a sparkly purple that she knew I wouldn't use and wrote in a loopy cursive, while Gazzy chose an olive green and printed his in all caps.

Hesitantly, I picked up the red spray can. I walked over to an empty space and began to write a huge F for Fang, but I couldn't do it. Maybe it was because he'd been so nice to me when I was puking (for the most part), or maybe it was because we didn't seem like enemies.

I pulled my hand down eventually, not writing his name at all. Instead, my hand ached to write Angel. But again, I hesitated. After what I'd seen during the vlog, I told myself that it was okay to be a little weak and unable to add her name.

She'd been horrible to my Family. She'd made Nudge cry, pissed me off, which admittedly, was not very hard to do, and Gazzy didn't talk to her when he could help it. Hadn't she earned her spot? Yes, she definitely had, but I still couldn't do it.

I wanted to. I wanted to write her name bigger than everyone else's, for everyone in the viewing audience to see, but I _just couldn't do it_. That frustrated me a lot, and I knew the only way I could convince the more compassionate part of me that when I was doing was okay would be to confront Angel.

The thing about my room was that it was a way to read me. When someone's name went up there in red, it was up there for good. I wouldn't take back what I wrote, partially out of pride. If I wanted to put up someone's name, I'd put it up and leave it up. If I was even the slightest bit uncertain, I wouldn't follow through. Maybe in a snap decision I would, but that was the problem; I'd started thinking about it too much.

Confident that I'd had a good plan, I walked out of my room. I wandered the house for a minute, knowing I was stalling, but eventually I made my way to her room. The fluffy pinkness of her room seemed even less appropriate than the first time I'd seen it. There, on the bed, was Angel.

She wasn't crying. I would have heard that before I walked in. But she was upset, I could clearly see it on her face, especially when she picked her head up from the magazine she was probably only half reading. "What do you want?" She was still rude, of course, but it was almost like her heart wasn't in it. Not completely, anyway.

"To talk."

There was that beautiful sneer we all knew and loved. "Obviously. Look, if this is about what I said, then I'm not telling you anything." She meant it. She looked both guarded and haughty, like she was above talking with about these things.

But there was something underneath it. I guess I'd never really looked, seeing as she was always so mean to everyone in my Family. I figured there was no way it could all be an act.

That was true. It wasn't _all_ an act. She was definitely That Girl. The one you see in the halls at school that you either want to be, want to be with, or want to kill. I usually fell in the last of those categories. She knew how to get what she wanted, and she'd use whatever it took to get what she wanted.

She wasn't perfect, though. No matter how hard you try to be fake, sometimes the truth slips out. It was the cost of lying so much. "If you don't want to then fine, whatever. I know you still hate us, and I know that you're mean enough to people you kind of love." I shrugged. "But just so you know, it isn't worth it to go out of your way to make _my_ life hell, now that I know because it won't work."

Her eyes narrowed. "Listen up," Definitely still a pain in my neck… "We have one thing, and only one thing in common. We're both stubborn. So if I want to make your life hell, then I will. Believe me, I will."

I didn't think about how she planned on doing that, but I knew it wasn't an empty threat. She seemed to know that I knew, so she flashed me a smile and said sweetly, "Get out of my room."

She didn't need to tell me twice. I walked away, pensive. I saw Nudge in the hallway, staring at me suspiciously. "Why did you…?" I shook my head, causing her to trail off. I motioned to my room, and she followed me. I didn't want Angel's commentary while I explained.

We opened the door to my room, and she glanced around. "You added more quotes!" She exclaimed before plunking down on a chair and reading some of them.

I nodded, letting her finally wind down. It took a couple of minutes, but eventually she remembered why she needed to talk to me. "Why were you in Angel's room?"

I shrugged, not feeling like explaining my turmoil. "To sum it up, I just wanted to see if she'd talk about what she confessed. She didn't."

"That really surprises me," Nudge burst out. "I guess that's because I'm such an extrovert. I don't really understand how anyone can keep things bottled up inside, it seems so difficult. Seriously, I have no idea how you do it. You or Fang. Fang is definitely worse, though."

I nodded. I didn't necessarily like the comparison among the three of us, but it didn't matter. "Yeah, I guess he is. I'm not surprised though."

"That's because you're like her. Wait…" Her brow furrowed. "I didn't mean you're _like her_ like her, just in that respect you are. I would never say you're like someone that mean."

Rolling my eyes, I stated, "I am mean."

She laughed. "Not that mean." Even though she had been giggling, there was something in her eyes that gave way to some sadness. She might have been an extrovert, but she did hide some things. Or, at least, she tried to.

Seeing that was all it took. I grabbed a can of spray paint and walked over to one of my walls. Staring back at me, in a slightly shaky, almost uncertain font, was the name "Angel."

**(A/N) A little bit shorter than I'd have anticipated, but at least I'm updating.**


	20. Episode Four Part Two

**(A/N) It's been forever, I know. And I'm sorry. Really, I have no excuses… every time I would open up this document I just couldn't write anything. Maybe after ANGEL comes out I'll have inspiration, but I don't even plan on purchasing the novel so we'll see. Could any of you recommend any good books? I've read most of the "popular" YA works, so any lesser-known books would be great to know about :) Especially the ones that are lighter reads (Think books by Ally Carter.)**

**Max POV**

The envelope showed up slipped under my door sometime in the middle of the night. When I'd gotten up to get breakfast, I saw it. The note seemed innocent enough, until I opened the letter and skipped to the last words.

_Love, Dad._

What was this? Some cruel joke from the jerks who ran the show? Or was it authentic? If it was, it'd still be equally cruel, hearing from the man who claimed to be my father. The thought of him made me frown, and my hands started to quiver in anger.

Shoving the letter in my pocket, I opened the door, deciding to read it once I'd eaten and was less grumpy. I was having trouble fitting it into my sweatshirt, so I paused in the hallway, swearing.

I could see a shadow fall across my hands, and I glanced up. "You gonna move?" Fang smirked at me.

I scowled. "Not in the mood." My frown was briefly directed at the partially crumpled letter in my hand before returning to his face.

"When are you ever?"

Rolling my eyes, I stepped over to the wall. When he didn't move, I raised my eyebrows and motioned for him to go on his merry way. He didn't budge. "It's a letter," I told him, knowing the information he sought.

"I know. I got one too." I blinked in surprise, but didn't respond because he prompted, "From?"

Sighing dramatically, I replied, "My long lost Argentinian lover. Oh, darling Fernando!" He didn't say anything, only simpered more. "Going to breakfast, you coming?" He nodded.

We made our way down the winding hallway together. "I wonder why they gave us so many rooms," I pondered out loud. "I mean, clearly we aren't going to use all of them. There aren't that many of us."

He shrugged. "Maybe they're trying to give you a taste of luxury."

"Sure, because the producers really do have souls."

He eyed me warily. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

I was about to snap something back, but we'd gotten to the kitchen. My stomach was grumbling, and I slid into one of the stainless steel with red accents bar stools. "Morning, Iggy. What's cookin'?"

"Eggos." When I grinned, he replied, "Sorry, I was lazy."

He pushed a plate of waffles at me, then the maple syrup. I tipped the bottle upside down and emptied, say, maybe half its contents? "You missed a spot," Fang commented blandly. I flipped him the bird, knowing it would be censored.

"Hey, Max!" Nudge chirped, settling down next to me. Before I could respond, she frowned. "Y'know, I had the weirdest dream last night. You wanna hear about it? So, we were on this island, right? And we..."

I started to tune her out, not having the heart to tell her I didn't wanna hear it. But occasionally I'd glance at her, and something in her wide brown eyes would make me smile, and I inject the proper responses of "No way" or "That's crazy." It was almost like the good old days, before everything got messy.

After I was finished stuffing my face, I went to my room, like Fang had about five minutes into Nudge's story. When I was about to open my door, I grabbed the letter out of my pocket.

_Max,_

_I can't believe how much you've changed. I've missed you so much. You're so beautiful now, you know that? When I saw your face on TV, I couldn't believe it was really you. I couldn't believe I'm so lucky to have a baby girl like you._

_I wish you would return my calls. I know I messed up, and I didn't mean it. I didn't mean those things I called you, and I didn't mean those things I said about your mom. Or your brother. I wish you'd gotten to meet them._

_The first time I hit you, I felt terrible afterward. But it felt good, too. I guess that's why I kept doing it... In any case, I wish I could take it back._

_I've gotten the help I need. You could come back, Max. I still want you in my life. You need money, but if you came to live with me, everything would be alright again. I promise._

_Love, Dad._

Why did they let him give me this letter? Why did they do this? It couldn't have been faked, there was no way for them to know about how he abused me. Not even Nudge and Gazzy knew how bad it got.

I was pretty sure they'd figured out that my dad hit me. They probably thought it was a one-time thing, which it wasn't. It was every night, both verbal and physical.

Strange thing was that I almost missed him. I still loved him, crazy as it sounded.

_Why_ did I love him? After all he'd put me through, how could I? It wasn't fair. I kind of wanted to see him, just to make sure he was okay and he really did get the help he needed. But I knew that wouldn't be possible, and it simply didn't make sense.

I wasn't sure when my eyes started watering, or whether it was the result of anger or sadness, but the tears began spilling out of my eyes. I wiped at them with the back of my hand furiously before tipping my head back, like it would stop them from falling.

It worked. Sort of.

But not before Fang saw. His lips twitched down slightly. Like earlier, I tried to wave him past me. And like earlier, he didn't budge. "What?" I snapped. "Yes, I have feelings, believe it or not. Now scram!"

"You okay?"

"Oh, yes, I'm totally fine, which would be why I, am wiping at my eyes!" I bit off the last word I was going to tack on at the end.

He shook his head. "You must be if you can be so obnoxious." He started moving away from me and I nearly breathed a sigh of relief before he stopped dead in his tracks. Hesitantly, he asked while turning, "Was this about the letter?"

I thought about lying, but in the end, it didn't seem like it would benefit me at all. So I merely nodded. "From?"

This time, I dodged the question. "It's not important."

"Clearly, it is."

"Clearly, I don't want to talk about it."

Thus the stare-down started. I'm proud to say that I won.

Just as I was walking down the hall, he said, "You're really..."

"What?" I asked, whirling around.

He shook his head.

And that was that.

**(A/N) So the format was kind of weird later on - we will get more in depth about Max's relationship with Jeb, and she WILL finally open up to everyone else eventually :D**


	21. Episode Four Part Three

**(A/N) I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to do with this chapter, but eventually, I figured it out :D**

**Max POV**

When I woke up the next morning, I didn't feel upset. My dreams were haunted by images of my father looming over me, but when my eyes snapped open, I felt almost at peace.

I walked down the steps slowly, the plush carpet smooth beneath my feet. I dimly acknowledged that maybe I should have worn something a little more suitable for an athletic challenge, if they finally decided to give us one, so I headed back up, not even half-way down the flight of stairs.

I changed quickly then turned to look at myself in the mirror. The expression on my face could have rivaled Fang's best emotionless stare. The thought made me smile, and before it could fade, I went back downstairs.

Plunking down on the couch, I grabbed a nearby gossip magazine that the people running the show must have brought in. I was never much of a _J-14_ kind of girl, but imagine my surprise when the front was a collage of pictures and one of them was my own. Underneath the photo was a caption that read, "Max nominated as best female star".

Incredulously, I turned to page twenty-one. Sure enough, there was the treacherous article. Apparently, the magazine put me in their stupid poll for people to vote on as the hottest up-and-coming reality starlet. The picture of me wasn't that bad, and some of the authentic comments from fans were highly amusing and actually kind of sweet.

"Huh. Wonder how that happened."

I jumped about a foot in the air and whirled mid-jump in an awesome ninja move to face a now-smirking Fang. "Would you _stop_ that?"

"Stop what? Breathing?"

I picked up a throw pillow and whacked his chest with it. He stumbled back, hand over his (what I assumed to be) gruesome injury. "Seriously. Don't they have to ask your permission before signing you up for something like this?"

"Knew I should have actually read my contract," I mumbled. But I did, and under paragraph five, sub-section B point three it stated that the show would allow magazine articles, blog posts, and anything else to help publicity for the show. I just didn't think I was that important or fascinating to anyone.

"Oh, look," Fang commented, the simper on his face wider. "I'm on the next page." He jabbed a finger, and he was apparently in the running for the same thing as me, only as an opposite gender, of course. "'Fang the sexiest new male reality star?'" He read, giving Billy Mays a run for his money, "'You tell us on _J-14's_ website!'"

I rolled my eye sand him and snatched the magazine back before closing it, pretending like I didn't see Nudge and Iggy in the running for best couple. Angel would probably be a shoo-in for best queen bee, or whatever the magazine would call her.

Fang and I sat there, bantering, but my heart still wasn't in it. Maybe I was just too anxious about the challenge.

"Okay!" Someone shouted over a bullhorn from outside our door. "Will both Families please step outside?"

Nudge's chatter ceased, and Gazzy came thundering down the stairs. They both walked over to me, and I nodded at them before we all began walking outside. When we stepped onto our perfectly manicured lawn, Nudge's jaw dropped. "Oh, wow," Was all she said.

There was a huge obstacle course outside our house, and I was briefly glad I'd decided to change. There was a rockwall, except it was made out of the same stuff as a moonbounce, with air inflating it. In face, that was pretty much what the whole course was like. The rockwall led to a slide, then it looked like you had to climb underneath a couple of inflated bars that were close to the bottom of the huge contraption.

It looked like something any of us could get seriously injured on, despite our being in shape.

The lady was blabbering on and on about the sequence we were supposed to hit the course with. It wasn't as though it was extremely hard to figure out, but we let her listen to the sound of her own voice.

"Ready, oldest Sibling first…" I glanced over at Fang and got into a sprinting position. "GO!"

My legs started flying. I ran toward the rockwall as hard as I could before flinging myself onto the plastic-like material. I grabbed onto the first handhold I could see and leapt up, putting my feet on another ledge. My hands and feet moved quickly, and I tried to ignore Fang who looked like he was higher up then me.

Nudge's loud screaming encouraged me, and with a final push, I heaved myself over the edge, tumbling headfirst down the slide. Perfect slow-mo moment right there. My feet rolled over my body and I grimaced, wondering why they didn't give us any padding.

Then I was at the bottom, and I saw Fang was still halfway down the slide, sitting down like a five-year old. I snickered before launching myself under the bars. I pressed my body to the ground, ignoring how awkward it felt as I more or less shimmied my way out of the course.

I was almost to the opening and I pushed myself out. My feet were on the bouncy mat, and I stood up hastily, and I heard, "Middle Sibling on Max's side, GO!"

I put my head in between my knees as I knelt on the ground before getting up and scrambling away. Nudge was struggling with getting up the rockwall just as Fang emerged to stand next to me. There was s light sheen of sweat coating his face, making him look rather… athletic.

We both walked over to a bench and sat down. My sore muscles whined in prtest as I lowered myself. I stretched my arms over my head and pointed my toes, trying to work out all my cramps when I noticed a camera zooming in on me. I glowered at the perve of a camera-man who turned back to the action. "Gross," I muttered, pulling myself back into a normal posture. Fang only shook his head, seeming to think the same thing as he, too, glared at the man.

Nudge and Iggy got out of the thing at the same time, and they immediately headed over to a second bench where they sat way closer than necessary. Nudge abruptly stood up and screamed, "Go, Gazzy!" She then turned to me and motioned for me to stand as well.

I did, and put my hands near my mouth as I cheered him on. It was a close match, and I honestly wasn't entirely sure who was going to win as Gazzy and Angel climbed under the bars.

It was down to the wire, and even Fang had stood up, muscles tense. I shouted and hollered until my throat was sore and my voice was raspy, and I dimly noted that Iggy would be making hot chocolate when we were done.

Angel exploded out of the course just a split second before Gazzy, but he managed to stand up first. Gazzy had won.

In the rules the lady had so painstakingly pounded into our brains, it was perfectly clear that in order to win, the last member would have to be standing. Sure, Angel won first, but Gazzy had more strength to get up.

So imagine my confusion when just as they were about to announce the winner, Angel leaned into the referee and whispered something, her blue eyes wide and coated with crocodile tears. After a moment of hesitation, the referee declared, "Fang's Family wins!"

Iggy shouted something really dorky like, "Alright!" and slapped his sister an even dorkier high-five, while I shouted, "Are you kidding me?"

The referee walked over to where I was standing and said, "Is there a problem?" I crossed my arms over my chest and lifted both brows at her in response. Sighing, she said, "Angel finished before Gazzy."

"But in order to finish, you have to stand up first!"

She shook her head and said, "I didn't exactly say that. Sure, standing is part of ensuring that your next member may go, but I didn't say anything about the end."

I also shook my head. "I can't believe this."

"You don't have to," She directed at me before putting on a perky smile for the camera. "Would you guys like to know what you've won?"

The other Family screamed yes and I walked over to Gazzy and Nudge, who looked disappointed, but not as royally pissed off as me. "You guys are going to… Hawaii!"

Angel screamed and jumped up and down, actually looking happy for once. I could feel my heart drop into my stomach. I'd always wanted to go to Hawaii. I wanted to see if the water really was as blue as people claimed. I wanted to see a volcano.

They say that when you're there, all your worries are washed away. And yeah, it's cliché of me to want to go to Hawaii of all places, but it's something I'd always dreamed of. It was so close, _so close _and that stupid girl took that opportunity away from me.

I was sure that even if the standing thing wasn't directly stated, it was implied. And Angel changed the referee's mind with fake tears and a trembling lower lip. It made me sick to my stomach, and I flipped her off. She only smiled at me sweetly.

I was so busy being mad, I didn't noticed when Fang walked up to me. His hand was on the back of his neck, and his eyes were perfectly blank when he murmured, "You can take my spot."

"Huh?"

He shrugged. "If they'll let you, you can take my spot. For Hawaii. I've already been there."

For a moment, I was so shocked I couldn't even speak. He would do that? For me? "I… don't think they'll allow it," I choked out. "But thank you. So much." I could feel myself smiling.

He nodded. "You just looked so upset…" He shrugged again.

My heart didn't glow or anything cheesy like that. But it did give a slight flip, and I told myself that this was no big deal. That this was Fang, and he was just a good friend, and that was all.

No matter how kind he was to me, even if he didn't fully understand exactly what he'd done for me.

**(A/N) Reviews are greater than cherry pie! And apparently, the last Maximum Ride book comes out next year... By the way, when you read Angel, can you come back and leave me a review on here saying what you thought? I'm still deciding if I want to buy it or rent it... if you already left a review on this chapter, leave an anonymous one or post one on a separate chapter. Or you can PM me. Thanks so much :D  
**


	22. Letters

**(A/N) Right, so I know that it's been forever… I'm sorry :/ This one is a multiple POV chapter, so I decided to write it in third person which is really not my strong point, but I'll try to make it good.**

Fang walked down the hallway in the middle of the night, feeling a bit like a creeper. He knew it wasn't normal behavior for a kid his age to be roaming a gigantic mansion at 2AM, but those days he found it hard to sleep. There was too much on his mind for him to worry about rest.

He wondered why he'd come on the show, why he'd thought it would be a good idea. Maybe, he thought, Max was right. Maybe Angel was a selfish brat for convincing him to go on the show when no of his Family needed the money that Max's lacked.

But she wasn't all bad, all the time. Angel had her moment's of sweetness. Fang remembered the time when she'd hugged him on his last birthday and shyly presented him with his present. He remembered the time when she couldn't stop apologizing for hitting him in a moment of rage.

Deep down, she was a good kid. She just didn't want anyone to know it.

Fang's thoughts had been so distracting he hadn't noticed the shadowy figure flitting through the house. When he got back to his room, he found a letter sitting on his empty bed. Frowning, Fang moved inside with a renewed purpose.

Hastily, he tore open the envelope, eyes going wide as he scanned over the familiar, girly writing.

_Dear Fang,_

_I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw you on TV the other night. I mean, like, it was probably the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me. Imagine my thoughts when I see my super hot ex-boyfriend on one of my favorite programs..._

_Yeah. It was insane._

_I still don't remember why we ever broke up, Fang. Was it because you got so famous with your blog? Or were you too busy with some blonde skank like that girl living with you._

_Ugh, you always SAID you hated blondes. I dyed my hair for you!_

_But I'm not here to reprimand you (Big word, I know, right?), I'm here to tell you that I'll totally take you back. Seriously, not hard feelings! Everything was crazy perfect before, it can be perfect again._

_When you get back, we've GOT to talk ;)_

_Love, Sierra_

_XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO_

By the time Fang finished reading the letter, her was equally mad and amused. So now that he was on TV his cheating ex wanted him back? Funny how she got mad at him for liking Max when Sierra was always sleeping around with anyone who asked.

What made him most surprised, though, was remembering that he used to really like this girl. He used to think her (fake) personality was charming, he used to think her made-up spray-on tanned face was gorgeous and that her plastic-enhanced body was ridiculously sexy.

He was so stupid. He was so shallow, and he never even fully realized it until that moment when he started to tear up the letter.

* * *

Why, oh why did Iggy forget to close the curtains before he went to bed? Groaning, he sat up and checked the clock, squinting in the accursed sunlight. 7:27. Great, just great. Grumbling something under his breath, he half-rolled, half-climbed out of his bed.

He was never very alert in the morning, and when he was rummaging around for a shirt to wear, he managed to stub his toe on his desk. Letting out a curse, he turned to glower at the desk when he saw the little slip of paper sitting there.

Curiously, he stumbled over to the desk and blinked his bleary eyes. He knew he was sleepy, but surely he wasn't mistaking the name scrawled at the bottom of the page in his old social worker's hurried handwriting.

_Dear Iggy,_

_My, it's been such a long time. I believe the last time I've been to check on you was... what, four months? Far too long. I was growing concerned about you and was actually just planning a visit when I saw your face on a magazine._

_At first, I couldn't believe my eyes. Surely this grown up, handsome young man wasn't the little boy I helped out who was crying because he had no place to go? But it was. Instantly, I opened the magazine and recognized the face of your sister and brother._

_I hope sincerely that you're doing well, and I assume you are. After all, you made it on a TV show and you're competing for $1,000,000! _

_I'm so proud of you, Iggy. Really, I am._

_Yours,_

_Mrs. Kent_

After reading the letter, he felt guilty. The last time he'd seen her, he told her she wasn't his real mom so she should stop acting like it. He remembered the way her eyes filled with tears and the way she'd told him it was okay, that she wouldn't check on him anymore.

Leave it to the sweet woman to be planning a visit because she couldn't help loving the boy who had spurned her.

Maybe, Iggy realized, that was why he liked Nudge so much. They both had the same sparkling, joyful outlook on life, and they both cared about him for reasons he couldn't imagine. He wished he could tell Mrs. Kent that he missed her and that he found this amazing girl, but he knew he couldn't at the time.

But someday, he'd take her out for coffee, and then he'd apologize for everything he said.

Because truthfully, Mrs. Kent really was the only mother he'd ever known.

* * *

Nudge was probably the only teenager in the world who actually looked forward to waking up in the morning. There was something magical in the sunrise, the representation of a new beginning, a clean slate. Every morning was a new day to do your best and be the best.

She always tended to wake up on the right side of the bed, with a smile always on her face. That morning, at 6:13, she was grinning like usual before eagerly opening her curtains and letting the light filter through the window and onto her face.

Every morning, she told herself, "Today will be a great day," because if you look at life that way, you can make every day special.

She was just getting ready to open her mouth to speak the somewhat sacred words when she noticed something sparkling pink out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head, then got the full glare of the glitter on her eyes. She scowled and picked up the paper, instantly recognizing the handwriting on the envelope.

It was the handwriting of a girl who had bullied her mercilessly. Incredulously, Nudge opened the paper a bit reluctantly, not wanting to tear the pretty covering. She slid the letter out with great care, also recognizing the signature stationary.

_Nudge,_

_Why didn't you tell me you were going on _Fight or Flight_? I would have asked for your autograph for sure._

_Wow... I can't believe I was asked by the producers to write this to you. I'm seriously in shock, like, no joke. Seriously._

_All those things I said to you? I didn't mean them. You're actually really pretty and totally not fat. And you're way smarter than me, and you're not a bitch at all. In fact, you're pretty much the opposite._

_Anyway, I'm really sorry. I really am._

_I don't suppose you'd ever forgive me for all those things I said? When you get back, we have to go on a shopping spree. You'll have so much money by then we won't even have to look at the price tags!_

_I'm looking forward to it! I always knew someday we'd end up besties 'cause life is just funny like that._

_Isn't it hilarious how much I like, wish you were here when I used to wish the opposite?_

_Well, anyway, Nudge, I hope you win!_

_Your biggest fan, _

_Madeline_

Stupid Madeline. Of course Madeline would only think Nudge was good for one thing: cash. Madeline used to be rich, then her family fell from grace (as did her popularity status) and she finally began to leave Nudge alone.

But now that Nudge was famous and could possibly give Madeline a taste of the luxury she probably missed? Suddenly, they were destined to be "besties".

Nudge was sick of it. She was sick of being used, she was sick of being picked on. It was why all of Angel's comments hurt so much, because she'd heard them all before. From Madeline, the girl who'd once broken her spirit.

Softly, Nudge murmured, "Today is going to be a bad day," as tears began to slide from beneath her closed eyelids.

* * *

Gazzy had been up all night. He was so absorbed in his game that he never even noticed when the sun went down and the moon came up until there was a bang outside of his door. Broken out of his trance, he glanced around the room before finally pausing his game.

If there was ever one thing he learned from Max it was this: paranoia saves lives.

Cautiously, he began surveying the room, going from one piece of camo furniture to the next. Nothing seemed out of place, and after all, the noise did come from outside of his room. Then he noticed the piece of paper lying on the carpeted floor, his name glaring up at him in huge block letters.

The handwriting wasn't familiar to him, but with a nagging feeling, he knew that it should. Looking left and right, like he was about to commit a crime and didn't want to be caught, Gazzy snatched the paper.

The envelope was flimsy and he opened with easily, ripping the sleeve in the process. He shrugged; it was just an envelope, it didn't really matter. What was inside did.

_Yo Gasman!_

_It's been a while, man! You never told me you were gonna be on TV. I didn't even know it until I overheard Riley talking about it with her friends (by the way, she thinks you're hot now.) _

_$1,000,000? Do you know how much you could buy with that? You could buy an awesome car, way more flat screens than you'd need, probably every video game ever invented..._

_You're gonna be rich. And it. Will be. AWESOME.  
_

_I started watching the show. I hope you win._

_Alex_

The letter was short and kind of scatterbrained, Gazzy could practically see Alex's animated face as he wrote the letter. He was a good friend, but strangely enough, when he pictured a best friend, it wasn't Alex who came it mind, it was Iggy.

Gazzy wondered how he'd managed to get so close to somebody he was trying to beat. They had so much in common: their love of explosives, video games, and Nudge, for starters. The two just worked together.

Part of Gazzy felt guilty because he knew he wouldn't be the same person when he went back. Going on the show made him grow up.

He was still immature, he knew that. But he didn't care as much about his old hobbies as much as he used to. They were still that: hobbies, but they weren't his life anymore. Max and Nudge suddenly seemed even more important to him, and now it wasn't even about the money, it was wanting to win for his Family.

Gazzy wondered what Alex would say if Gazzy told him about these things. Alex would probably laugh in disbelief, say something like, "You don't care about the money? Are you crazy?"

He did care about the money, but it just wasn't as important to him anymore. He didn't want the money to buy stuff he didn't need (at least, that wasn't the only reason he wanted it), he wanted it so he could see Max and Nudge's faces light up the way they did every time they won a Challenge.

* * *

Angel was ready. She knew something was going on, something was happening the with GameMakers. They were going around distributing letters.

She knew because everyone was off. Max seemed even more prickly than usual, Fang just seemed carefully neutral, Nudge seemed uncharacteristically upset, Gazzy seemed pensive, and Iggy seemed to be overdoing his laid-back attitude.

Plus, she'd overheard Fang and Max talking about the letter.

It was 3 in the afternoon, and everyone was glum. Everyone, that is, except for Angel.

She didn't get a letter, and by the time it was mid-afternoon, she knew she wasn't going to get a letter.

She wondered why. Was she not important enough? Did the GameMakers forget hers? Did they lose hers? Did someone else get her letter instead?

It took her nearly all day to finally understand.

Everyone got letters from people they interacted with before the show. But Angel didn't interact with people outside her Family.

No one cared about her enough to truly hate her (except Max, maybe). Sure, some people disliked her, but it was to the point where they feared her, too, feared the popular girl who could destroy them, and they wouldn't send her a hate letter.

But the worst part of her shocking revelation was this: no one cared enough about her to like her. No one cared except for the people with her on the show.

The realization was shocking, yet totally unsurprising at the same time. Was she really that cold?

Was she really as bad as Max made her sound?

It was amazing, really, what an undelivered letter could do to a girl.

**(A/N) So, this was pretty long! Yay!**


	23. Episode Five Part One

**(A/N) I am so sorry. I really am. Life has been so crazy for me, so in honor of my last day of school, I'm updating! Warning: I will NOT be updating again until two weeks from now, I'm on vacation. Which I need.**

"Max," A voice whispers. "Why does life have to be so hard?"

I grimace away, knowing what is coming next. "I don't know," I whisper back, still inching away from the person who spoke to me.

His blond hair is sticking up, like he's been gripping the fine strands in anguish. His eyes are dark with depression and frustration, and I know it is only a matter of time before he loses it. Only a matter of minutes until the outrage replaces the sadness. "Why did he die, Max? Why did my _son_ have to die?"

"I don't know."

He looks at me, taking in my cowering stance. This only seems to get him more worked up and he asks, "Why are you so afraid? Why did your mother leave? Why does everyone hate me so damn much?"

He is stepping toward me, fist raised. With a loud curse directed at the world, his clenched hand slams into me, sending my eleven year-old self careening into a wall. I gasp a little bit as tears began to roll down my face. I lift a hand to my eye and cry out as his foot smashes into my stomach with an astonishing amount of force.

"Why, Max?"

His fist comes down again, this time on my other cheek. I howl silently, feeling my eyes close as I brace myself for another blow. "Why, Max, why?"

He starts to whale into me, pummeling me. I could fight him off enough to get away. I may be young, but I'm strong. We do not have a lot of money, and the kids in school make fun of my bulky, out-dated clothing that barely manages to cover the worst of my bruises. They don't care enough about me to notice, to even _look_; they only see the least fashionable girl in the school.

Finally done, he crawls away from me as if he's the one who's been beaten. I can barely even move to curl up into a ball, but I manage to do so anyway. He's looking at me with wide, sad eyes. "Why can't I stop hurting you?" He asks, stretching out a hand toward me.

I roll away despite my body's pleas. With tears rolling down my face, I say in a hiccupping voice, "I don't know, Daddy."

I woke up from the dream quickly. My chest was heaving, and I jerked a hand up to my face to quickly wipe the sweat off my brow. A quick look at the clock told me it was dead in the middle of the night. With a groan, I slipped out of bed and grabbed a sweatshirt to cover my tank top.

I yawned as I stepped out of my room, heart still hammering. I could never get back to sleep after that horrible dream, and I hadn't dreamt it in awhile. It had probably been well before coming on the show, and I'd thought I'd been cured.

Then I got his stupid, _stupid_ letter. Since then, I'd dreamed it several times. It brought back the memory of that one night where things were just so bad. He'd come back a few hours later, and, instead of apologizing, beat me up even worse. It was terrible and emotionally-scarring, but I didn't talk about it. I didn't think about it, if I could help it.

I made an odd, angry noise under my breath and glanced at the ground, trying to find something to kick. I found a familiar Converse-clad foot and almost stepped on it. Instead, I glanced up at Fang and asked, "Who wears their shoes inside?"

"Me?"

"Yeah, I see that," I muttered, "but you're probably the only one. It's really strange and I don't get the point. At all. I mean, we're walking on carpet and they make us keep this freakin' place so _freakin'_ clean it's not like there would be a single freakin' thing for any freakin' person to trip on!"

He kind of just stared at me for a minute. "Bad dream?"

I laughed shortly. "Yeah. I guess."

"Because I wasn't in it?"

Normally, I might have laughed and said something sarcastic. But I was tired, angry and hurt. So I didn't put up with Fang's typical arrogance. "No! No, that's not why because some people aren't shallow and stupid like you! If you knew what it was about, you wouldn't joke. If you knew anything at all about how to treat people, you wouldn't joke.

Truth is, Fang, some people have more important things to worry about than the self-proclaimed hot guy living a few doors down. Believe it or not, some people have real issues to deal with, and I'm not in the mood. I'm not in the mood to—"

"Are you done yet?"

Angrily, I snapped at him, "Seeing as you cut me off mid-sentence, I obviously wasn't!"

He just continued on like I hadn't spoken, though his eyes flashed with resentment. The gold in Fang's irises was hard to spot in the moonlight pouring in one of the huge windows next to us. "I really hope you're done because we'll wake people up."

"I hate you! I hate that you're so obnoxious to me all the time, and I hate that you're so much better off than me! I hate that you stick up for your sister even when you know she's doing something wrong, and I hate that _you_ will act like you care and then change your mind. Just like that," I snapped my fingers in front of his face.

I tried to push past him, but he easily stopped me in the hallway. This time, he didn't try to hide his anger, which was good. I needed this, I needed to fight even though I knew it was with the wrong person. Fang wasn't Jeb, and it wasn't fair to him to act like he was. I knew it, but honestly?

I didn't even care.

"You think I don't care? Why would I give up a trip to Hawaii for you if I didn't care? Why would I put up with you acting like this all the time if I didn't care? You just like to pretend that I don't care because then you can do the same. You're the one who can't handle actually feeling anything." Fang was ranting, and it was weird. He spoke in full sentences, but he was mad.

He never acted mad. I could see it every now and them, but it was easy to overlook because he usually hid it so well. "I can't handle feeling anything? Funny, coming from a brick wall!"

"No, I can handle feeling things," He shot back, something else glimmering in those eyes of his.

I shook my head and taunted, "So you just can't handle showing your feelings?"

"How come I'm not up there?"

It was probably the most random thing he could have said, and it stopped me dead in my tracks. For a moment I tried to make sense of what he told me, then I gave up. "I—what?"

"Your wall. How come I'm not on your wall, like Angel?"

Incredulously, I came up with a thousand different comebacks. A thousand great ones, in my personal opinion. But I didn't say any of them because they all felt like lies. Instead, I replied, "I don't know."

I was dumbstruck. I really didn't know. He annoyed me, of course, but I didn't actually like him?

Only I did. I really liked him, he was a cool guy once I let myself see past all the walls he had up. Because truthfully, I was pretty sure he only put up those walls to see who would break them down. And I had. I'd broken them down enough for him to explode on me and not think twice about it.

He cared enough to argue, to drop the stupid façade he always had going on. He cared that much, and I knew it, so I couldn't write him on my wall.

Put simply, he cared about me, and I cared about him. So I couldn't do it.

He'd long since abandoned me in the hallway, and I wished that night hadn't been so full of truthful _I don't know's._

**(A/N) At the bottom of my profile, I have just placed a link to freerice(dot)com. It's a website that's up to help combat world hunger. It's completely ****free** **us to use****.**** I'm sure that so many people throughout the world would appreciate it if you could just go on for ten minutes a day – Just think of how many people we could help if we all pitched in! All you have to do is answer some really simple questions and within ten to fifteen minutes, you could probably easily donate over 500 grains of rice. For those of you who agree, feel free to copy and paste this onto your profile/stories along with a link :) Thank you for reading this.**


	24. Episode Five Part Two

**(A/N) Wow, I didn't take forever to update! Shocking, I know.**

She was so mad, and I still couldn't figure out why. It had been a day since Max exploded on me and I asked her about the wall, and she wouldn't even look at me. I was laying in bed, staring at the wall like I had been for hours and trying to figure out what I did wrong.

I yelled at her. I was never much of a yeller. Too many things get said when people are angry, so I try to avoid the emotion. I didn't like people being inside my head and I probably never would. It was frustrating, and honestly, a little bit scary.

But I just couldn't seem to keep her out, and even weirder, I didn't _want_ to keep her out. For once, I wasn't the one who was on guard in a relationship. She was. I wished she just knew she could trust me. I wish she knew how much I cared.

She was awake. I could practically feel her presence, her energy thrumming throughout the house. She was so lively, it was almost impossible for me to mistake when she was moving around. It would be so easy, so simple to just talk to her and get to the bottom of this… whatever it was.

It was such an easy decision, it was never really a decision at all. I got up quickly and efficiently opened the door before stepping out into the hallway. I knew this had the potential to be a big mistake; after all, last night's confrontation went over so badly. With a twang, I remembered how she said she hated me. The words struck me hard. I wondered if maybe the reason she didn't talk to me was because I acted like I wasn't ready to talk after the harsh words we exchanged.

She was sitting by a window, resting her elbows on a windowsill with her head in her hands. With the moonlight hitting her and illuminating her to perfection, she looked like she could have been posing at a photo shoot. Max was so beautiful in those little moments when she thought no one was watching. When she was just being herself.

There was a little slip of paper sitting underneath her. It was crumpled, like she had tried to throw it away several times but couldn't bring herself to do it. All I could make out was the farewell: Love, Dad.

"Does he miss you or something?" I asked quietly.

She didn't pick her head up immediately. In fact, she moved slowly, pushing her hair out of her eyes. For once, she wasn't modeling a ponytail. She looked at me blankly. "Does _who_ miss me?"

I pointed at the letter. "Your dad."

Max didn't scramble to hide the scrap. She only glared at me, and I was glad to see a spark of something in her chocolate eyes. "Why is that any of your business?"

"Didn't we just have this conversation?"

She widened her eyes, like she suddenly had a revelation. "Oh, of course! You _care_ about me, right?" She clasped her hands together. "That makes all my troubles fade away."

Patiently, I told her, "I don't expect your troubles to fade. I do expect you to tell me about them." She didn't say anything. So I prompted, "I thought you were in foster care until you met Nudge and Gazzy."

For a moment, she looked like she was about to yell at me like last night. Then, there was just a slight vulnerability that entered her eyes. I remembered our confrontation about this letter from earlier, and I wondered what was so bad to make her act like this.

She wasn't herself. She was sad and dreary, and there was almost a trace of fear on her features. Her brow was furrowed, cheeks slightly flushed. She looked like she hadn't slept in days, or she at least hadn't slept well.

"Max," I said softly, my voice barely a whisper. "What's going on?" I reached out for her and grabbed her hand. She tried to pull away, but I kept her there, waiting for her to look at me.

There weren't tears in her eyes. It was more like… there should have been, but she'd already cried herself dry. I recognized the look from Angel. "Max, talk to me."

She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut. Her breathing became more shallow and she gasped, "Can't. It hurts."

"My letter was from this idiotic girl." I made my voice quiet and slow, hoping to soothe her. "I used to have it bad for her. Hottest girl in the whole school. She slept with anyone that wanted to get laid, and the list was practically never ending. When we were going out, I pretended like she never even did anything wrong.

But I knew she did. And I didn't even care." I shook my head. "The kind of person I was… the fame from my blog got to me. I wasn't me."

I had been so shallow. I had been all about money and hot girls. That had been my life, but it wasn't anymore. "I got that letter and… it was embarrassing. Embarrassing that I used to like her, embarrassing that my world was all about stuff that didn't matter."

I tightened my grip on her hand, noting that she was much calmer. In a scathing tone she commented, "You still seem like an arrogant jerk to me." Then, she offered a tiny smile.

"Maybe," I drawled. "But at least now I've got my priorities straight. For some reason, you're pretty close to the top. You can trust me."

"Can I?" She asked, eyes bright and attentive. "Can I really trust you?"

I nodded. "Forever."

She took in a deep breath before cautioning, "I don't talk about this often."

"Really? I never would have guessed."

She glanced down at our still entwined hands and blushed briefly. Then, she told me, "He hit me."

I blinked before asking sharply, "Your dad?"

Max bit her lip. She was trying so hard not to hold back, and I loved that she really trusted me. She trusted me with information she didn't freely offer. "Yeah, my dad. Not every night, but close to it. He was messed up."

She took in a shaky breath. "The things he'd say to me… he was so- so tormented. When I was finally put in foster care, Jeb made it out of jail for child abuse. He was diagnosed with a whole bunch of conditions and was put on medication."

I shook my head in disbelief. "That's not right! He hit you and they _let him out?_"

"He—he didn't understand what he was doing."

If I was disbelieving before, I was in shock now. "Why are you defending him? No one has a right to do those things to you! No one has the right to hurt another person."

Tears were forming in her eyes but she brushed them away furiously. "Don't you think I know that? I _loved_ him, Fang! I still love him. I miss him because before he lost it, he was so good to me. So good. I want to hate him, but I can't. I want to hate him for the nightmares he gave me, for the way I have to relive how he kicked me and smacked me every single night, but I just can't."

"How are you so strong?" I whispered. "How can you even live?"

She shrugged. "Nudge and Gazzy helped me so much. They showed me the way real family loves one another. It's why we have to win. I owe so much to them, I just have to give back somehow. They gave me sanity, and I can't even provide a stable home even though I want to."

Finally, she broke out of my grip and couldn't look at me. "It's why I should hate you, too, so it would make winning easier. But for some reason, I can't do that either."

I always knew how strong Max was. However, there was something even stronger about the way that she had the courage to tell me something she didn't have to. There was something even stronger about the way she let herself be vulnerable for just a moment.

That strength was so beautiful, but she was gone before I even got to tell her.

**(A/N) Alrighty! That's that.**


	25. Episode Five Part Three

The giftcard in my hand was shiny and new. I stared at it. I didn't think I would ever get sick of staring at this beautiful piece of heaven. Nudge and Gazzy both darted up to me, skimming their fingers along the shiny plastic. "Can you believe this?" I asked in disbelief.

More excitedly, Nudge babbled, "I definitely can't! $10,000 to spend in Wal-Mart is absolutely insane. We could buy food and stuff for like, an entire year if we get soup that's on sale. I could probably even buy some make-up! I know you think that's really silly, but since I've started getting my make-up done professionally for this show—"

Still staring at the card with my jaw down, I smacked my hand over Nudge's mouth. "Just be quiet and enjoy," I teased, trying to be sarcastic even though my eyes were filling.

"Now, isn't that wonderful? The poor people get a giftcard to their favorite store! It's such a shame you won't be able to get a wardrobe that's actually flattering."

I smiled at Angel. "You know what? I don't even care about you right now. At all. So go right ahead and bitch all you want. Have fun."

Nudge had started babbling, this time about how maybe she'd be able to get some shampoo that could actually tame her crazy curls. Iggy was just grinning at her, loving that she was so happy.

"You want to be in charge of this?" I asked Gazzy when Fang motioned me over to him.

Gazzy stretched his finger out and tenderly grasped the card. "I can't believe this is real."

I grinned at him. "I know."

I did a little dance on my way over to Fang. He smirked at me. I spread my arms wide and offered, "You want to make fun? 'Cause I can give you the same mini-speech I gave Angel."

"That won't be necessary."

"Yeah," I replied, "didn't think so."

He shrugged at me before grudgingly admitted, "You guys definitely deserved it. That was a hard challenge."

I couldn't help but snort. This was the first challenge we participated in that didn't involve physical brawn, but rather brains. We were given some business simulator challenge that we'd actually been participating in for the majority of the day, since seven AM. It was now four thirty.

"Maybe if you guys actually had a budget, you would have done better." I shoved him playfully.

He rolled his eyes at me. "Probably."

I beamed at him and exclaimed, "I'm just so… ecstatic!"

"Your happy glow is blinding. You're acting like Angel in her cheerleader days."

The idea of Angel walking around with a perky smile was enough to make me double over in laughter. "I'm sure she was great at spreading hype for games."

"She dropped out after about a month."

I nodded. "I would, too. Dealing with a whole squad of Nudge's doesn't sound fun, much as I love her."

Fang smiled at me. Not a full blown grin, but it was still enough to make me even giddier. "Seriously, though. Congratulations."

Impulsively, I flung my arms around him. I squeezed him around the neck as his arms slid around my waist. We clutched each other for a few seconds. Into his shoulder, I murmured, "Thanks."

I tugged away, ignoring the almost dazed expression on Fang's face. "I can't believe I used to hate you."

Things between us had been both tenser and more relaxed since we talked about my father. He'd approached me the next day and tentatively said hello. I'd responded eagerly, glad to know that he still felt comfortable with me. We'd talked easily, probably because there was no longer the issue of my secrecy between us.

We carefully danced around the subject, but it felt good knowing that I had shared my secret with someone I could trust. He didn't understand why I couldn't hate my dad, but he tried. And he didn't understand because he cared about me; how could I complain about something like that?

Back in the present, Fang's confused look was gone. Now he just looked cocky. "I knew you'd get over it eventually. I am pretty irresistible."

"Yeah," I scoffed. "According to that stupid magazine."

Fang chuckled. "Did you know that same magazine nominated you and Angel for best ongoing catfight?"

My nose scrunched in distaste. "I didn't. It's not really that surprising, though."

"You can say that again."

I started to, but he cut me off. His mouth was quirked up to one side. "You really don't find me irresistible?"

Laughing, I pushed him again. He was ready this time. He caught my arm and tugged me close to him. The giggling died in my throat. I swallowed before saying in a somewhat normal tone, "You're still on this?"

His eyes blazed. "Of course. You bruised my ego."

"Like it couldn't use it." My voice was breathy. I grimaced, hating that I sounded like a pathetic fangirl.

"You're ridiculous," He told me.

"And you're…" I struggled to think of what witty retort I started when his hand rested on my cheek. After a few seconds, I finally finished, "You're awfully close to me."

He nodded, bringing my face close to his. "Are you going to move?"

I didn't. Instead, I just stared at him. He was so confident, in a way, but the arrogance he put on was mostly just a show. He was still a person, still someone who had their vulnerabilities and insecurities. It was getting harder and harder to compete with him when he was continually exposing the good side of him.

I'd like to say that being around me changed him. In all honesty, I think I'm the one who changed. He showed me that first impressions aren't everything. He showed me that digging beneath the surface can be completely worth it sometimes. He showed me that someone who should be my enemy could really be one of the best people on this earth.

He showed me so many things about people and about myself that I never knew. I guess that's why when he kissed me, I actually kissed him back.

Or at least, I kissed him back for a few seconds. But it was long enough to know that his kiss was perfect. It was long enough to know that what any other kiss I might've had could never compare to the chemistry this one had. It was long enough to know that I might have been a tiny bit in love with Fang.

So I pulled away. I couldn't love Fang, I wasn't supposed to. He flashed that beautiful grin of his at me, that grin I almost never got to see. It killed me to see the smile die off his face when I wrenched out of his tender grip.

"I-I can't. I just can't. I'm so sorry, Fang."

Then I started running, ignoring his pleas for me to come back.

* * *

**(A/N)** I know this is kind of late. I've been working on some original fiction, some of which I finally posted on fictionpress. Thought I should let you guys know so you can read my work, if you're interested.

For those of you who aren't familiar with fictionpress, it's a website that is partnered with fanfiction (I think) where you can upload original work for others to see. If you're interested, go to my fanfiction profile. I've just put a link to my fictionpress profile at the bottom. I would absolutely LOVE some feedback from you guys, even if it's in an anonymous review. And yes, it is romance ;)


	26. Phone Call

**(A/N) **This chapter gives insight on Angel. I feel I should warn you that there are some very dark themes in this chapter, and if you don't think you can handle it, skip the chapter and I will **summarize** in the bottom author's note what happened. There's nothing too graphic, just some twisted concepts. I would recommend reading the summary anyway because I think this chapter (and some of the thoughts behind it) may be confusing.

**_PAGE BREAK ISN'T WORKING... SO PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK_**

For the first time in a long time, Angel was having second thoughts. Angel wasn't sure if she was comfortable with what she was about to do. The feeling hadn't been tangible in such a long time; Angel wasn't entirely sure how to deal with her guilt.

Angel hadn't always be cruel. She used to be the nicest girl anyone would ever talk to, the girl with the disarmingly sweet smile. She used to be king and loving toward any and everyone.

Then, Angel had been raped. Her innocence had been taken from her at age ten by her own father, a cruel man whose name she couldn't care to remember. He'd leered at her, commanding her to take her clothes off. Angel had complied, baffled, and it wasn't until he'd started touching her that she'd understood.

She'd screamed and begged her father to stop. He'd never shown any signs of wanting Angel _that_ way. She'd been so confused and horrified, two emotions that had never once dwelled in Angel.

In a soft voice, she had whimpered, "Daddy, why?"

He'd tried to soothe her, "Don't cry. You're Daddy's Little Angel. Daddy loves you. Daddy's just showing it. Daddy's just showing how much he loves your pretty blond hair and innocent blue eyes…"

She'd started screaming again. She couldn't handle the way his voice took on a different note. His breathing had gone ragged and he'd started saying sick, twisted things like nothing Angel had ever heard. He'd been in a trance, punctuating each and every filthy word with an equally disgusting and _wrong_ touch.

When he'd finished with her, he'd left, kissing her on her forehead. He'd promised he would come back, but Angel hadn't wanted him to come back. So she'd grabbed her clothes and dressed before running outside, running nowhere.

She'd been picked up by the police. She'd explained what had happened to her, and the police had promised her father would never see Angel or any other little girls ever again. Angel hadn't really understood what was happening when she had been dropped off at a foster care system.

Angel had met Fang and Iggy in foster care. She'd won them over with her charm and sweet persona. She'd acted the way she had before her rape, she'd wanted to be the same person. All she'd wanted was to forget and be happy. So she'd never told them what had really happened with her father. She'd never told anyone, but she'd promised she would when the fear went away and she could talk about it without breaking down.

Only the fear had never gone away, not even when she'd turned fourteen and years had passed. Sometimes, Fang or Iggy would tap her on the shoulder and she wouldn't be able to handle it. She would jump and start to freak out until she'd calmed herself down when she'd recognized her friends. One time, Angel had even slapped Iggy and screamed at him before she had come to her senses.

That was when Angel had known she would never be able to forget. She'd also known she couldn't tell anyone her secret, not ever.

She wouldn't be able to stand it. She wouldn't be able to deal with people asking her about her father. She wouldn't be able to stand seeing his face every time a teacher or peer gave her a lingering look, one that said, "Poor Angel. Poor Angel, the girl who was raped and needs closure."

She would never be able to get over what her father had done to her, and she'd known if anyone even mentioned her father, she would relive the memory right then and there. It would be too much for Angel. She had been strong for years, just dealing with nightmares.

The nightmares were terrible. Her father would loom over her, saying things in two different voices: one of tender lovingness and one of sadistic lust. Her body would ache as he raped her in her dreams until she awoke, shaking and crying.

How could she deal with that during the day? Her friends had already been suspecting something had happened to Angel by the hints she'd dropped, and Fang and Iggy had both known she'd had an abusive past. Everyone she'd been acquainted was on the verge of discovering Angel's abuse, and then they would make her talk, and when she would talk, she would see him and feel him every single moment…

She had been raped once, and the consequences were horrible. If she had talked about it, the memories would surface more and more frequently. Then, if she had to think about her rape every single moment, what would happen to her? The possibilities were so scary.

She would keep her secret by shoving everyone away from her. She had glowered and hissed. She'd bitched and whined. She had threatened and taunted. Everyone had known not to mess with Angel or she would make you cry. If you would even look at her and you had been deemed unworthy, she would make you cry. It had worked marvelously; people had stayed away from her.

She'd even pushed Fang and Iggy away. They'd shown concern when Angel no longer had friends over. They'd started trying to find out more about her past, to find out more about just why she needed to push away her peers. She couldn't trust them, though. She'd trusted her father, and look where that had gotten her.

They'd gotten to see the fallen Angel. She'd yell at them when they'd tease her. Angel had sneered at them when they'd tried to make polite conversation. She'd scowled at them when they'd rumpled her curls.

For awhile, it hadn't worked. They'd just pushed back at her harder, until one day, Angel had heard Fang saying to Iggy, "When she's ready, she'll talk." He'd sounded so doubtful.

Angel had wanted to be happy. She'd succeeded in being alone in her misery. She wouldn't have to talk about her father because no one cared enough about her to push for the truth.

She had won her right to remain silent. Her coldness triumphed others' warmth, just as the sins of the world triumphed over the good.

She was a bitch and she was proud.

But there she was, having second thoughts. Was it really okay? Was this phone call the morally right thing to do?

It wasn't necessary for her to torture Max. Ever since day one, Angel had been so jealous of Max. She had been jealous of how easily Iggy and Fang were enthralled by her, the way they once had been with Angel. Angel had pushed Fang and Iggy away, but she hadn't expected them to replace her with another girl, let alone a different girl who would quite possibly turn Fang and Iggy against their own sister.

Soon, though, Angel came up with a much better motivation to despise the other blond in the house. Max was a good person, one of the best out there with a huge heart, even if Max herself didn't realize it. She wanted to save the world and everyone in it, even if she herself didn't realize it.

That was why Angel was so vicious toward Max. Angel was certain that if Max knew about Angel's rape, Max would insist on talking about Angel's issues so the two could be friends and so Angel could feel better about herself and life.

Angel was about to do one final thing that would push Max over the edge and away from Angel. Angel couldn't risk Max wanting to help because Angel didn't want help.

She didn't want help, did she?

Was it possible if she talked about her issues, she could move on and go back to being the sweet little Angel that no longer existed?

She could let herself love and be loved. She could go back to smiling and being so happy her insides hurt. She could go back to spreading that joy. She could go back to hugging Fang and Iggy tight, just because she had so much love inside her she _had_ to share it.

She was thinking far too much. Too much thinking, and oh, it _hurt._ It hurt to think of the monster, the devil she had become.

Every now and then, Fang or Iggy would catch a glimpse of the old Angel. They would see Angel's beautiful, innocent smile. They would earn a light kiss on the cheek. They would notice a glimmer of genuine joy in Angel's eyes.

But it would always be gone. Angel had allowed herself to hate so much her ability to love had become distant.

She realized in a panic that her morals were hard to access. At the beginning of her fourteenth year on earth, at the beginning of her transformation, Angel had always known when she was being unkind, and she'd done it anyway to preserve her secret and privacy. As she held the phone, though, she couldn't even tell if she was about to do right or wrong.

She had become so different she wasn't even sure who she was anymore: Who was the real Angel? Was the original Angel buried so deep that her cold-hearted persona was no longer a persona, but the essence of who Angel was?

She didn't want to be like this, but she had to be.

She had to be like that, hadn't she?

She didn't have to be. Angel didn't have so cruel and so evil. With help, maybe she could become her old self, the girl Fang and Iggy loved tenderly.

Hope flared in Angel. For the first time since her reformation, she considered the other side of her decision. She could be better. She could get better. Maybe talking about her problems, maybe talking with Max, would give her some relief and she would no longer see her father's pleasured face every time she closed her eyes. She would talk and have nothing to hide. She could get better.

But maybe it wouldn't work. Maybe talking about it would stir those memories to the surface and she wouldn't be able to stop thinking about him. Maybe she would be more haunted than she already was. Maybe the terror would make her cry herself to sleep every night. Maybe she would truly go insane.

It was the same conflict she had when she'd made her decision long ago, or at least, it seemed long ago. It was only a few months since she'd become a terrible person.

A moment passed. Angel felt such shame in her decision, but she shoved it away.

"Hello, Game Makers? Yes, this is Angel. I think it would be very interesting if the world found out exactly what was in our letters, don't you? Maybe it's time some secrets get exposed to, you know, mix things up."

It was funny, Angel thought as she hung up. It was so funny how, in desperation to preserve her own secret, she was willing to betray others. Now, the Game Makers wouldn't dig up any dirt on Angel and expose it because they would be so busy with Max. Now, no one would think there was anything more to Angel than some awful mean girl, and no one would think Angel could change.

Because when it got right down to it, Angel knew she _couldn't_ change. She _couldn't_ change what her father did. She _couldn't_ change that she hadn't gotten help when she'd had the chance. She _couldn't_ change the way her memories affected her, and she _couldn't_ change what she was certain would happen if she told others about her abuse.

And she most certainly _couldn't_ change herself. She _couldn't_ change back to the original Angel, but she _could_ do a damn good job being the Devil.

* * *

**(A/N) **This was… really dark and really hard to write. I hope it makes sense, why Angel pushes everyone away.

So, **summary** that was promised: We learn that Angel was raped by her father. She has nightmares that torture her, and she thinks if she talks about what happened to her, she will think about it more and more and eventually go insane. So to cover her secret (and hopefully protect her sanity), she pushes people away, a decision she made when she was fourteen. At the end of the chapter, Angel has conflicts about her decision about becoming closed off and considers coming clean and seeking help from Max. In the end, out of self-preservation to keep her secret and already-tattered state of mind, she calls the Game Makers and persuades them to oust everyone's letters and deepest secrets so no one will go looking for hers.

Lastly: Thank you so much to those of you who did read my story on Fictionpress! The words on my original work meant so much more to me than you'll ever understand. Love you guys.


	27. Episode Six Part One

We were all staring at our TV/computer in shock. No one could find anything to say, not even me. I talked a lot, it was true, but there weren't words that could be found to describe the surprise and vulnerability we were all feeling.

Our letters, digital copies of our letters, were all uploaded onto the screen. All except for Angel's, who was the only one absent from the room. It was hard, seeing my weakness exposed on the large screen.

It was strange, but I could barely stand to look at my own letter, staring with "Dear Nudge." I already knew its contents and couldn't stand to read them countless times over. Seeing Madeline's words made me more insecure than I liked.

Judging by what I'd read, the letters all represented pieces of who we were that we couldn't stand, or they represented people we no longer were. They showed the places we'd been that we all wished we'd never traveled to.

We were done reading them, and no one seemed to know what to do. No one seemed to know what to say, or even where to look.

I glanced around, hiding my gaze from Iggy. He was boyfriend, and he was trying to get me to look at him, but I knew I wouldn't be able to stand the look in his eyes. Who knew what I would find in them?

Instead, I turned to Max, who just looked numb. Her letter was by far the most shocking and personal out of all of them. I reached a hand out and broke the silence like I always did. "I didn't know."

It was such a short sentence. Normally, I would launch into a rambling speech about exactly what I didn't know, but I was still groping for something to say. I was still trying to make sure my edit button was working so I wouldn't make Max feel even more comfortable.

"I didn't either," Gazzy said softly. "I really didn't. I didn't know it was that bad."

She looked at me. "Of course you didn't know, Nudge. Of course not." Her normally warm eyes were dull and lifeless, so unlike herself. "You were never supposed to know."

"I thought it was just once," I told her, trying to mask my hurt. "I thought he only hit you once and you got away. Why did you let him keep doing it? I mean, you're just so strong Max, if anyone could have escaped that torture it would be you. So why? Why did you deal with it?"

I expected anger. I expected her to fly off the handle and show me a part of herself that I could recognize. I hated being yelled at, but I was willing to take a verbal slap if it meant giving Max something familiar.

But she wasn't angry. She was so, so _lifeless._ "I loved him."

"You loved someone who hurt you?" Gazzy sounded offended and confused. "But why?"

"He was my father," She whispered. "My only father. They're not collectibles, I can't get another one. Part of me doesn't want another one; part of me just wishes he never hurt me."

Fang reached out and took her hand. When his fingers brushed hers, something bright and beautiful flared in her eyes. He made her _feel._ He made her feel _alive,_ the same way Iggy made me feel alive.

Fang murmured something in her ear, and she nodded. They left the room.

Iggy's hand rested lightly on my shoulder. I turned my head to him and tried to smile, but it was hard. I was never like Max, never good at pretending things were okay when they so clearly weren't.

"Who's she? Madeline?" He asked.

I gulped. "Well, I wasn't very popular when I was younger. In fact, I was pretty much the opposite. Kids thought I was weird physically, being one of the only black kids in a white community. Me being tall and curvy and babbly didn't help either."

I bit down on my lip but the words kept pouring out. "Madeline liked to pick on me. Max always told me she was jealous and needed to make me feel bad so she could feel pretty. That didn't make much sense to me at the time, but I know now that it's true."

"She bullied you?"

Nodding into him, I took in a shaky breath. "Sure. She'd say I was stupid and annoying and fat and ugly and pretty much every word you can think of." I couldn't help but smile as I said, "Max punched her."

"Good," Iggy muttered. "It's not true. You're beautiful."

"I remember her," Gazzy piped up. "I would have punched her, too, but I knew you'd get mad."

I laughed shakily. "No, I would have thought it was sweet."

"I got a letter from my friend," Gazzy said, sounding surprisingly troubled. "I'll let him down when I'm back. I'm not the same anymore, I'm grown up and he'll hate that."

I stretched out to Gazzy from Iggy's arms, and he walked over to me. I rumpled Gazzy's curls and said, "Everyone has to grow up sometime."

We sat in a companionable silence for awhile, but Iggy wasn't himself. I knew him well, and putting us both together rarely ever equated a quiet environment.

"Iggy, who was Mrs. Kent?"

He stiffened around me for a moment, then his arms relaxed. "She was my social worker for awhile. I got mad at her and I told her I didn't need her. She was like my mother, and I pushed her away. I haven't seen her in months."

"Do you miss her?"

Iggy's hands ran through my hair. "Yeah. She reminded me of you. Does that sound gross?"

"No. She seemed like a really nice lady from her letter. Not," I added hastily, "that I'm saying that makes _me_ really nice. Well, I mean, I am pretty nice. But I don't mean to brag or sound like I'm full of it. That's Max's job. Except, not today.""

He shook his head. "She was abused. I can't believe it."

"People hide it well. I didn't know it was repeated, like I said. I just can't believe she let herself be hurt like that."

I looked at Iggy, and his pale face held a guarded expression. "What are _you _hiding from me?"

Iggy sighed. "It isn't my secret to tell. It's one I forgot about for awhile, for a really long time, actually."

"You're not making much sense," I teased him, "babbling on about nothing should be my job."

He was about to retort when the sound of Max shouting could be heard by us all. I got up, followed by Iggy and Gazzy. We charged up the steps to see Max yelling not at Fang, but Angel.

And something told me whatever was about to happen would cause even more drama than our letters being exposed.

* * *

**(A/N)** I wanted to feature some Nudge/Iggy, so that's what this chapter was. Next chapter will be from Fang's perspective taking off from the line "I loved him."

Feedback is always appreciated!


	28. Episode Six Part Two

"I loved him," Max said, looking dazed and out of place.

She'd explained it to me before. I knew she loved him, but I still didn't understand. I wasn't sure I would ever be able to understand how she could feel anything but hatred for such a monster. I wasn't sure _she_ would ever be able to understand, either.

We weren't the only ones. Gazzy's eyes were wide when he said, "You loved someone who hurt you? But why?"

She started talking, but I wasn't listening. I could stand to hear how numb she sounded, how she just didn't seem to care. It wasn't like her to shut down, or maybe it was. Maybe her defense mechanism for feeling too much was closing herself off when she couldn't run away.

By the end of her speech, I could detect something in her voice, something wounded and small and not Max. Lacing my fingers with hers, I leaned down and brushed my lips against her ear. "Come on," I told her, "we should go somewhere else. Let them process this while we process on our own."

She didn't look at me, but she did take charge and led us out of the room. She went up the stairs and then we were in the hallway, looking at each other but not speaking.

It took awhile before she said anything, but finally, she sucked in air and spoke, "I didn't want them to know. I didn't want them to think I was weak, that I can't take care of them because I've got too much baggage."

"You can take care of them."

Exasperated, she flung her hands in the air. "I know that. Apparently, you know that. Who's to say what they're thinking?"

"That you don't trust them."

Her head tilted to one side. "Why would they think that?"

"Well," I started, "you didn't tell them about your dad. You kind of misled them, and they're probably wondering why you didn't tell them the truth."

"That's ridiculous," She exclaimed, looking at me with an indignant expression that suited her much better than blankness. In fact, it suited her so well, I was tempted to kiss her again, but I knew if I did she'd just run, something that couldn't happen when we were both so emotionally high strung.

Stifling my feelings, I shrugged. "Whatever."

"How did they find out?" She mused out loud, and I was relieved to see a bit of color returning to her previously pale cheeks.

Shrugging again, I absently started walking down the hallway just so we could be moving. "Maybe they just decided they wanted some dirt dug up."

Max scowled. I opened my mouth to continue my thought, but she clamped a hand over my mouth. Wheels were turning in her mind, I could almost hear the whirring of her thoughts flying by as she pieced together some puzzle.

"Where," She asked hotly, "was Angel's letter? Where was Angel during this whole thing?"

I hadn't read anyone else's letter. It was too personal and invasive. I knew I didn't want anyone to read mine, so why would I be a hypocrite and ponder their own letters? But looking back, I didn't remember seeing one for my sister. Nor was she present while we were reading our letters.

"That little…" Max muttered before screaming, "Angel!"

It didn't take long for my sister to crawl out from whatever hole she was hiding in. She looked much less put-together than usual, with her icy blond hair not even brushed and blue eyes bare and without make-up.

It was the first time in a long time that I remembered she was only a fourteen year old girl. _Fourteen._

"What do you want?" She demanded snidely, already sounding sick of the conversation.

Max stalked up to her, legs trembling. "Was it you? Was this letter thing your idea? Is it your fault that they know?"

"Honey, I couldn't care less about your silly little letter," Angel inspected her nails before she turned to leave.

It was supposed to be a dismissal, but it was pretty clear that Max wasn't having that. Max grabbed Angel's shirt and swung her around to face us, and part of me was counting down the seconds before Angel pulled Max's hair or Max punched Angel's face.

"I'm not your honey," Max's voice grew louder as she declared, "And I know it was you! Don't pretend like you're so much better than me because you're not. You're disgusting, you know that? Do you get off on other people's misery?"

Angel dropped her I-Don't-Care façade for a moment and her blue eyes blazed. "So what? What if I do, what if I'd rather thrive on other people's pain than my own?"

"Pain?" Max was screeching, but I'd never pictured her as the screeching type. "What would you know about pain?"

The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs distracted Angel momentarily, but not Max. I recognized the ranting face she was wearing, and there was no way she would let the subject drop, even if there was an audience.

"You are a privileged little brat," Max shouted. "You get whatever you want, whenever you want. You live with two of the best guys on the face of the earth. You're so freaking bored you hurt other people so you can laugh at how much better off you are! You're a snobby, self-righteous sadist and I hope someday someone hurts you the way you deserve."

I put a hand on Max's arm. Angel looked stunned, but there was something beneath it, a little bit of longing and loneliness. And as much as I cared about Max, I couldn't let her say those things to my sister, regardless of how true they may have been.

But I couldn't believe they were true. I didn't understand Angel, not anymore. She used to be perfect, she used to live up to her name. She'd pulled away, but every now and then, I'd get a glimpse of the sweet girl I remembered. Right now, the slight glimmer of hurt I saw was enough to make me hope we'd be able to get to Angel, find out how we could make her go back to the real her.

"Max, you can't—"

She shook me off. "I'm not done!"

She whirled on Angel. "My dad beat me. It didn't happen just once. He would hit me, kick me, say the meanest things you could imagine. Don't talk to me about hiding pain because I won't buy it, not when I've got so much of my own to deal with. And that's what I'm doing, dealing with it so I don't end up cold like _you._"

Angel didn't say anything. She stared at Max. She just stared. "Your daddy abused you?" She said quietly, her voice vulnerable and young.

Max looked taken aback, like she was expecting an entirely different response. "Yeah, he did. And it sucked, but I'm moving on so I can try to be happy."

Angel looked at the ground and said in a voice that was startlingly full of compassion, "I am so sorry, Max."

I reached for Angel. She looked up at me with a wide stare, and I brushed her curls away from her face. My own brow furrowing, I placed a kiss between her eyebrows and told her, "I don't know why you're like this. I don't know why you're suddenly crying instead of acting the way you have been acting. But me and Ig still love you."

Of course Max mentioning her father would spur a reaction from Angel. Of course it would. I knew why, I knew it was something they had in common, but how could I have forgotten?

Had Angel just been so cruel to me that I didn't care about the baggage she carried? Or had she become so cruel that I'd forgotten about her rape?

"Angel," Iggy said from off to the side. "Is this whole thing you've been doing, is it—"

She backed away. She turned and ran away, the action reminding me too much of Max.

Max was staring at Angel's back, and her brain was in overdrive again. This time, she didn't look angry, just confused. "What was that? She was almost normal there, for a second." Max turned to Iggy with her eyebrows raised. "And what did you mean?"

Iggy avoided the question. "That was really weird."

I smiled at her, but it was forced and I was sure Max knew it. "Normal for this house."

She smiled back, only it seemed even more forced than mine was. "True enough."

Our audience immediately started jumping in with a billion questions and comments. I cut them off, asking, "Can we have a minute?"

It took awhile to persuade them to leave, but as soon as they did, I positioned Max against the wall so she wouldn't try to leave. She got a panicked look in her eyes and she stammered, "I think we should go—go do something else."

"As opposed to what?"

She leaned her head back from me. "I don't know. You've got me pinned against a wall, I sure do wonder what you have planned." She glared at my mouth pointedly.

I chuckled. "I'm not going to kiss you."

She blinked. "You're not?"

"No."

"Oh. Good, or I would have punched you."

I smirked. "So do you promise you won't back out before we can figure this out?"

She nodded. She wrenched out of my grip.

I leaned away from her, even though my body and brain whined loudly. I knew what needed to be said, I knew what would be best for the both of us. "Just wanted to say it won't happen again. We can pretend like it didn't happen. We were both just… high on excitement, I guess."

Max breathed a sigh of relief. "Right, perfect. Exactly what I was thinking."

I was pretty sure we both knew we were lying, but neither of us called the other person out on it.

In a life of drama, it was so much easier to avoid whatever connection we had. It was easier, just easier.

_It's easier,_ I told myself for about the billionth time, _just easier._

* * *

**(A/N) **I spent forever agonizing over the editing of this chapter, but nothing was working for me. I'm still not totally satisfied, but this will have to do.


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